Our Love Incarnate
by Shrrg
Summary: Every path in life will fork, and the choices one makes will decide their happiness in reality. This is the story of Kazuto Kirigaya and Yuuki Asuna, from the fleeting moments of young love to the evolution into a bond that is truly worth noting.
1. The Return

**New story! As the summary stated, this will focus on the journey Kazuto and Asuna take as their relationship grows and evolves into something truly worth noting. I hope you enjoy.**

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Chapter 1: The Return

"Just breathe in slowly, miss. Yes, just like that. Very good."

Kirigaya Kazuto eyed the doctor examining his significant other with a passive eye as a small clock ticked away on the wall above his head. He was currently sitting in a hospital room which carried the faint scent of antiseptic that usually plagued such establishments. The folding chair he sat in creaked every time he let any weight get on the right side, and so he was forced to transfer all his gravity towards his left, causing some rather intense soreness in his rear areas. Across the room, a nurse was examining her patient in order to monitor her recovery speed, murmuring quietly under her breath as she performed more tests on her patient and tapped away with lightning speed at her tablet.

"Very good, miss," the nurse continued, taking more medical tools out of her belt. "Now please hang your legs off the side of the bed so that I can test your reflexes. This won't hurt a bit."

Kazuto rolled his eyes in exasperation at the words of comfort, if it could be called that (although _redundant _and _debase_ seemed to fit better). Although it was true that her patient was still a minor, the girl was just over seventeen years old. It wasn't like she was still afraid of things like shots or anything.

_Though I wouldn't be surprised if she still was, considering her quirks,_ Kazuto thought as he continued to stare out the window, through which the sun was shining vibrantly. Behind him, he could hear the delicate tapping of a weight on his girlfriend's nerve endings. Really, where was the necessity of such procedures anymore? There was plenty of technology readily available for the populace to test things like reflexes and ear or throat health, or even hearing and eyesight and taste capacity, if you so wished. For gosh sakes, this wasn't 2013 or anything.

_I supposed the older generation finds comfort in using old, proven methods. _Kazuto began to rub slowly at the arm of his chair, lost in thought. _I guess I could understand that. Before, I always knew I could respawn in a game. Now I'm not so sure._

"Now please come with me, miss," the nurse spoke, gesturing for her patient to step off of the medical bench. Kazuto shifted his gaze to watch Asuna come delicately down from the bed, her honey-colored hair floating slightly to the side as she moved. There had always been something quite captivating about Asuna's hair, Kazuto decided, not bothering to avert his glance. It was obviously healthy and well cared for, but there was more than that; its color was unique, it wrapped wonderfully around one's finger when necessary, and it carried the faint scent of ripe strawberries, a smell that sent goosebumps running down his neck every time as if he'd actually consumed the scarlet berry.

Asuna met his gaze and smiled slightly. "Is something wrong?" She asked, a teasing lilt to her voice as she narrowed her eyes playfully at him.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," Kazuto said breezily. Meanwhile, the nurse left the room, trusting her patient and Kazuto to follow. "I was just admiring you."

He'd always loved how easy it was to make her blush, despite her independent personality. "I-I see," The girl said, going red in the cheeks despite her best efforts. Kazuto just laughed at her discomfort and rose to throw an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, gently guiding the blushing girl out of the examination room.

"You shouldn't blush so much," He said seriously. "All that blood in your brain is going to keep you from passing the tests."

"Shut up," Asuna said firmly, but there was a mirthful giggle behind her words. She turned and buried her nose into the soft cotton of his shirt as they made their slow commute through the halls of the hospital. Their nurse had by now absolutely disappeared, but they knew where she had gone and how to find her. Kazuto sighed in appreciation and buried his own nose into the smooth surface of his girlfriend's hair, instantly inhaling that bewitching scent of strawberries. Pulling back before he could lose himself completely, Kazuto laughed and said,

"I was only kidding. I'm sure you'll pass the tests; they're quite easy to begin with."

For the past few months, Asuna had been undergoing treatment along with thousands of other victims of the SAO incident to recover from her time spent under the full dive conditions. Understandably, her body had deteriorated somewhat during her time in Aincrad, despite the best efforts of the latest technology and a million volunteer nurses working beside professionals. Kazuto had always been confused when he heard about the visual repercussions the victims had sustained over two years. After all, Asuna had been as beautiful as he had remembered when they'd first met in reality that one starry night.

They finally reached the door that was marked _Testing Room. _Asuna stared apprehensively at the sign and Kazuto retracted his arm from her, giving the girl an encouraging smile when she look back at him.

"It's only three minutes," Kazuto said softly. "You can do it. I believe in you." He punctuated the last point with a lingering kiss on her forehead, and Asuna sighed into his neck.

"Alright. Be right back," she said, and then she was in the testing room and Kazuto was forced to wait outside.

Walking to the waiting bench opposite the door, he took a seat and began reading a random magazine. In order to pass the physical fitness test required of all the SAO victims, certain people had to be able to run for certain periods of time without stopping. People with different body compositions and initial physical ability before the incident were divided in varying categories. It had been decided that for Asuna to be considered "mentally and bodily sound," she would have to be able to survive three minutes on a treadmill without stopping.

Although Kazuto had no other expectation than for her to pass easily, Asuna herself had reserved some insecurities about her body after waking up. Upon discovering how weak and fragile her normally toned body had become, the seed of doubt had sprouted within her soul. It often came to the point that Asuna doubted her ability to perform simple everyday tasks, such as cleaning the dishes or picking up a pencil she'd dropped. Of course, over time she had improved, and her physical condition had gone with it. Asuna's mental health hadn't been as scarred as certain other individuals from the game, so that was never really an issue.

The real challenge for Asuna had come when she was allowed to go home. She had permission to do or go whatever or wherever she liked as long as she didn't strain herself and reported regularly to the hospital in order to have checkups and take tests. It had been, essentially, Asuna's first foray into the bustling social world in more than two and a half years. It caused the seed of uncertainty to sprout into fear, and Asuna began to obsess over every little thing that had changed during her absence from reality. Her apprehension at losing things that would never come back was embodied in every restaurant that had gone out of business, or the room in her house that had changed its layout, or the new baseball stadium built across town. Her fear of change in the people she loved, however, was even greater. Luckily enough, her immediate family members had not changed much, not counting their emotional breakdowns when Asuna had first awoken.

_Well, for better or worse, anyone's pick,_ Kazuto thought irritably.

Asuna's mother, Yuuki Kyouko, had stayed just the way she was. Kazuto had heard very little about the woman during his talks with Asuna as Kirito, but it had been rather simple to garner the impression that she was a cold, calculating woman who cared very much for her daughter and would go to extreme ends to achieve her happiness. This, unfortunately, meant that she strongly disapproved of her daughter's relationship with an "average Joe" like Kazuto. Asuna had tried time and time again to explain to her that Kazuto wasn't mundane, that he was special, that he was strong. Kyouko, however, had done what most parents do and dismissed all her arguments as the ramblings of a child. And of course, Kazuto never found out about those arguments.

"She grew up in a middle class family," Asuna had told him one day when he was combing her hair. It had been early in the days of her recovery, and she'd felt tired that day, so he'd offered to comb it for her. What Kazuto hadn't realized, however, was how much precision hair brushing required from a girl's perspective. It had taken him quite a while to settle in the proper rhythm of brush, pull. Brush, pull.

"Sounds like a descent life," Kazuto had said back.

"That's the thing. She wanted more than that. She wanted to be high class, rich, self dependent, all that. The high life was something she couldn't achieve on her own, and even after marrying Papa she wasn't satisfied. My mother is a very difficult woman to satiate. So I suppose she sees me as some sort of redemption token, although I know most of it comes from the heart. She wants me to marry into a rich family. Mother was the one who arranged the engagement between me and Sugou, even though she claims that it was Papa's fault. I know the truth, though."

"So she doesn't approve of our relationship because I'm not filthy rich, eh?" Kazuto had sighed, taking a short respite from his brushing to gently run his fingers through his girlfriend's smooth hair, twirling it about his wrist.

"Pretty much," Asuna sighed back. "I don't want to marry some rich guy I barely know."

"Well, financially speaking, you would be happy," Kazuto had pointed out, the logician in him coming into play.

"That isn't important to me, dummy," she'd scolded him. "I want to be happy with the person I end up with, not how much money he has. Rather than someone like Sugou, I'd rather have a person like you."

In order to lighten the mood, Kazuto had smirked and asked, "Proposing to me already, are you? Shame, I was hoping to take it slow."

And she had, of course, blushed up a storm.

_Yet I wonder what Asuna's mother would do about my relationship with her daughter,_ Kazuto thought as he checked the time, noting that four minutes had passed. The entire process took about five minutes. _Will she forcibly end our relationship because of what she believes is best for Asuna? Her daughter certainly won't take it well...or at least I hope she won't. I definitely won't. I wonder if she would be willing to upset so many people to get what she thinks is best._

Kazuto supposed he would have to meet the woman to find out. They'd spoken curtly to each other before, but never had they sustained a conversation worth noting.

Closing his eyes, Kazuto tried his best to conjure up a clear image of the woman who had helped sire his significant other. She'd been rather short, he remembered. Even on high heels, she'd barely come up to his nose when they'd met. Chin-length hair that circled a drawn and focused face, and eyes that seemed the see through everything there was to see. And apparently, a rather sharp dressing style. She'd worn a suit for her visit to the hospital that day. And to see her own daughter, too. All in all, Yuuki Kouko seemed to Kazuto like a tense, tight person; just the kind he disliked.

_But I suppose I'll have to get along with her if I want to keep being with Asuna,_ Kazuto mused, disgruntled by the idea. He was under the impression that her mother would see through any attempts to appeal to her, so he couldn't see much gain in even trying to convince the woman that he wasn't some sort of monster. That he could take care of Asuna and make her happy. That was the most important thing, really, in the end. That Asuna was happy.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the door to the testing room was thrown open with such force that it struck the wall and rattled in its hinges.

Asuna stood on the other side, her face lit with happiness and joy.

"Kazuto," She breathed.

"I passed!"

"I told you so," Kazuto laughed as she launched herself into his embrace, squealing in delight. It seemed like any lingering doubts about her physical ability had been banished by the results of the test. Thank goodness. Kazuto tightened his grip around his significant other and smiled, all ready to settle in for a long hug, when Asuna forced some space between them so she could grab his face and kiss him full on the lips.

Kazuto couldn't help himself from smiling against her kiss.

_If she's happy, I'll be fine._

Outside, the sun was shining as Kazuto and Asuna walked hand in hand down the street of their neighborhood. Despite the numerous life endangering and tear jerking moments they had survived together, it still felt ridiculously awkward to hold hands with each other; both members of the couple refused to make eye contact and were blushing profusely. Before, during the events of SAO and Alfheim Online, the currents of pain caused by their struggles within the game had brought them close to each other. Now that they were in reality, though, where there weren't level fifty bulls coming at you left and right, it felt surreal to just hold hands and walk down a road.

They hadn't had much time to learn how to act like an "ordinary" couple.

In the distance, the Yuuki residence came into view. Thanks to the hard work of Asuna's father, the family resided in a rather large home with an expansive backyard and probably a lavishly decorated interior. Asuna's father was retired now, he'd been told. Probably for the best, since he had to make up for lost time with his daughter.

_I don't see how Mrs. Yuuki could possibly be dissatisfied with this,_ Kazuto thought as he observed the home as it drew closer. Kazuto knew that he himself fit snugly into the middle class category, and his own home was quite comfortable in its own right. This house to be at least twice as large and three times more expensive. Some women really were crazy.

_Although Asuna is too...it must run in the family._

Reaching the front gate of the home at last, Asuna keyed in an access code and allowed the wrought iron door to slide itself open with the help of electric motors embedded underneath it. She stepped through the newly created opening, motioning for Kazuto to follow. He followed, albeit reluctantly. The closer he got to that front door, the closer he got to meeting the parents.

The concept of it terrified him.

Asuna led him all the way up to her front porch before knocking lightly on the smoothly painted wood of the door. Kazuto noted that the house's front entrance lacked a doorbell, and instead had an old fashioned knocker. How old fashioned.

The door was pulled open soon enough, and Kazuto stood at attention, expecting to see Asuna's mother. Instead it was Yuuki Shouzou, the father. The man was dressed in surprisingly casual clothing; just simple jeans with a white polo shirt. In the few times they had met over Asuna's comatose body, he'd been in crisp suits and carried authoritative air around himself. Now, though, he seemed relaxed and at home, which he was, really.

"Asuna!" The aged man exclaimed in delight upon seeing his daughter. He reached out to embrace his daughter into a tight hug while Kazuto tried his best not to make any noises. Once the older man had let go of her, Asuna immediately pointed out Kazuto and said, "Is it alright if Kazuto comes inside?"

"Of course it is," Shouzou said, smiling reassuringly at the younger boy. "I'll be blunt and say that I'm well aware that my wife does not approve of you, but she's not here at the moment, so you have my permission to come inside." The last syllable was punctuated by a small wink, getting across the fact that while he wouldn't cause any open conflict with his wife about Kazuto's relationship, they had his secret support.

Nodding levelly, Kazuto said, "Thank you," and followed the two members of the Yuuki household into their home.

The interior of the house, while pretty, was actually quite simply decorated. The occasional flower here, an ornate vase there. One or two family photos hung on the walls. One thing Kazuto noticed about the house was the apparent excess of windows. Sunlight streamed in from every which direction, illuminating nearly the entire interior and negating the need for electric lights until the sun was completely set. It made the entire house seem very warm and inviting, two traits that Asuna's father did well in exhibiting. For the first time ever, Kazuto felt himself relaxing around a member of the Yuuki family other than Asuna.

Among his many skills as a businessman, Asuna's father was also capable of making tea; he set three cups of the stuff at the coffee table before they all took their seats in a ragged circle. After taking a few sips of the tea, he initiated the conversation.

"So, Asuna," the older man began, "I'm going to assume you passed your tests."

"All of them," his daughter beamed happily. "I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to pass, but I'm glad I did! That means I can do things with everyone else like sports and running. I'm that much closer to being the Asuna I was before."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Shouzou chuckled, obviously amused by his daughter's enthusiasm. Downing the rest of his tea, he seemed to take note that Kazuto was also halfway through his and said, "My, Asuna, it seems we're running low on tea. I should have made more. Could you please be helpful and make another pot for us?"

"Of course!" Asuna chirruped, eager to do anything to contribute to the general populace once more.

Apparently, her enthusiasm prevented her from seeing her father's true motives.

Kazuto, on the other hand, was not so blind, and he began to visibly sweat as his girlfriend stood up and waltzed into the kitchen. The moment the girl was out of earshot, her father got right down to business.

"So, Kazuto," he said, forcing eye contact. "It is Kazuto, right? I must apologize, I'm becoming forgetful in my old age."

"Yes, I'm Kazuto Kirigaya," Kazuto said.

Shouzou nodded in affirmation and continued. "I think you're a very smart young man, Kazuto, so I'm not going to act like we really needed any more tea. Would I be correct to assume this?"

Kazuto nodded.

"Splendid. Then it should be obvious to you what I wish to speak to you about, in an undisturbed setting: my daughter. What do you think of her?"

Mentally, Kazuto cursed himself and his slow brain. First question and he couldn't immediately find an answer for the old man. In the back of his mind, he understood very well that this was the dreaded "meet the parents" phase; the one where every guy became the super version of himself for a few hours. Kazuto had always planned to act like himself if he'd ever have to speak to his girlfriend's parents, but now that he was experiencing it for himself he felt the desperate need to make a good impression.

"She...ah...she's a very nice girl," Kazuto began.

"Hm?" The older man smiled. "Is that all you can say about her?"

"No, there's more," Kazuto said firmly. "She's very special, and special to me. Intelligent, tactful, kind, mature and responsible..."

Shouzou just laughed. "Now you're just throwing random adjectives out there," he said jokingly. "I'm only playing with you, Kazuto. I know that you care very much for Asuna. I can tell just from looking at the two of you. After all, I've been married for a few decades now. And Asuna cares very much for you. I personally feel that your relationship will at the very least be a very healthy growing process for my daughter and you as well, but obviously my wife has different ideas. Please understand that we both want the best for our daughter, but on the subject of significant others we tend to disagree."

_That's the understatement of the year,_ Kazuto thought as he calmly sipped away at the rest of his tea. Putting it down, he replied, "Of course I understand. I want the best for her, too. If it means anything, Mr. Yuuki, I will try my best. I'd like to dissolve any doubts that I really will care for your daughter."

"Oh please, enough with the mister this, mister that. It makes me feel like an old man. Just call me Shouzou. And I'm sure you will try, Kazuto. You'd better, if you want even a remote chance of persuading my wife of your ability. That's the thing, really. Neither of us have any doubt that you are dedicated to our daughter; no, the worry comes when we think about your ability to do so, although as you know this is more in my wife's case. All the promises in the world won't amount to one single, actual result. This is my wife's, and my, fear. This doesn't even have to necessarily extent into the context of marriage. This is entirely about Asuna's well being. So tell me, Kazuto...will you be able to make my daughter happy?"

He found it amusing that Asuna's father used the word happing while her mother would have used a word like _finance._

"It's what I live for," Kazuto replied as seriously as possible.

For one heart stopping moment, Shouzou studied him with an intense scrutiny. Then he chuckled softly. "Young love," He said wistfully.

Meanwhile, Asuna returned with the tea.

"Here you go!" The girl announced cheerfully, handing out the freshly brewed tea.

Kirito accepted the tea with a brief thanks and hid his face behind the cup.

_I'm not going to survive this family._

The very next day beheld weather as exceptional as the one before, if not better. It was a Sunday, and that meant church for Asuna. Christianity was subject to being the religious minority in Japan, and it was often difficult to find a respectable church within good commuting distance, but luckily a new one had been built ten miles from her house during her absence. Asuna was eager to resume her religious activities; she had never really been a hardcore, devoted Christian, but she had faith in the good lord above. That, at least, would always be constant.

Kazuto, unfortunately, was an atheist. The differences in their religious views often led to bickering and arguing, so they both tried their best to avoid the topic altogether, but there were still times when Asuna wished her boyfriend would at least give religion a try. According to him, Kazuto had never been a very devoted person when it came to attending church or immersing oneself within the principles of his or her religion. Ever since he'd discovered Suguha's true standing within his family and chosen to take up gaming in virtual reality, his conviction towards any religious belief had started to wither away. In one of their first discussions on the topic, Asuna had tried to point out that having a faith was freeing; Kazuto, on the other hand, replied that having no obligations to ultimate beings was true freedom. Asuna supposed that, after being under the thumb of Kayaba Akihiko for two years, one would doubt the purity of any omnipotent entity. Yet Asuna knew that her God wasn't like that, but Kazuto was a stubborn person when he needed to be.

_It would be nice if I could go to church with Kazuto and his family, though, _Asuna thought as she slipped into her church clothing, which consisted of a simple black skirt and a bright sweater. Adjusting her hair in the mirror, she continued her train of thought.

_Kazuto,_ she thought slowly, rolling the name around in her brain. The sound of it still felt a tad unnatural to her; for two years, her boyfriend had been Kirito, not Kazuto. She was well aware that the two names belonged to the same man she loved, but it was also impossible to miss the fact that they played different roles.Even now, when she laid eyes on her partner, the name that popped into her mind would sometimes be _Kirito._ She would have to remind herself that he was Kazuto, the same person with a different name. That, in the end, was one of the greatest things she had discovered about him. The Kazuto in reality was no different in personality than his avatar in Sword Art Online. There were people who were timid and cowardly in the real world, yet rose to the peaks of leader boards in virtual reality. Asuna herself, she knew, was one of those people. Throughout her two years in Aincrad, there had always been the little teenage girl who just wanted to give up from exhaustion and cry all her worries away. But she'd had to cover that up with a cold, determined front, keeping it locked away, curled up somewhere.

Kazuto had been her savior angel, really. He'd opened up her frigid shell and allowed her to see the beauty in the world around her, yet not lose faith. The world around her had brightened a little bit when she'd let Kazuto into her heart.

_But he's still too stubborn,_ Asuna thought as she slipped into her shoes and ran out of the house, ducking into the car in which her parents were already waiting. Her father started the vehicle and then they were off, on the road to church. Asuna languidly pressed her face against the warm glass of the car window. Opening her eyes, she stared up at the vibrantly shining sun. It was unusually summer-like lately, considering that it was at the height of winter, but it wasn't like she was going to complain.

"Asuna?" Her father called over his shoulder as he drew the car.

"Yes, Papa?"

"We got a notice in the mail today, about an event that's going to be held soon. The doctors and nurses who cared for the SAO victims as well as family members and friends have staged a memorial for the thousands who didn't make it out alive. It will be held this Saturday, and I just wanted to let you know about it. I knew you would want to go."

"A memorial, huh?" Asuna murmured, her tone dropping a bit as she was reminded of all the deaths. Three thousand eight hundred fifty three deaths, if she remembered correctly from the official announcement she'd seen on the holo-television that day. She thought about all the people, good and bad, who had lost their lives in the death came called Sword Art Online.

"A memorial sounds like a good idea," Asuna said at last. "Will you and Mama go as well?"

"That's the thing. Only surviving victims of the incident will be allowed to directly attend. Parents and friends will have to watch from their homes or from the outskirts, if they so wish. They want people who understand the pain of being trapped to be present, rather than people who harbor only a simple sympathy."

Asuna looked and her father in surprise. "That's an interesting idea...I like it. I'll go with Kazuto and Rika and Keiko, then. We might even see Klein and Agil there, so I'll be safe."

"Good to hear."

Once the conversation ended, Asuna returned to staring out of the car window. The street lamps all flashed by with such speed that she didn't have the time to appreciate the sight of them. It was alright though, because she'd get to see them again on the way back. The deceased wouldn't though, and Asuna's heart throbbed whenever she thought about it. A memorial was a perfect idea, she decided. A way to honor the dead, surely, but also a way to wrap up the scarring event known as Sword Art Online once and for all.

_We'll let it all stay in the past,_ she thought.

_But I'll never forget them._

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**_Please review for more!_**


	2. Immemorial

**New chapter up. I hope you enjoy, and as always, have a nice day.**

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Chapter 2: Immemorial

The moment Kazuto stepped past the markers of the gate, he felt the eyes turn on him.

Trying his best to keep his shoulders squared and eyes pointing straight ahead, Kazuto continued in his usual pace; he did not allow himself to quicken or slow. They were watching him, sure, but that didn't mean he had to acknowledge their attentions. Maybe if he did that, they wouldn't stare at him anymore. Maybe he'd blend in a bit. Kazuto was the sort of person who felt being high profile was generally appealing, but the spotlight he was receiving lately was beyond ridiculous.

That fact that Asuna was hanging on his arm didn't really help matters, either.

She'd insisted on it on the way to school that morning. Kazuto had made sure to wake up extra early in order to elongate his route to include Asuna's home. Even though she'd passed the tests, Kazuto still felt the paranoia lingering around his head, so he walked Asuna to school. In any case, enjoying the cool morning air and the winter's chill together was an enjoyable experience. About halfway to their destination, she'd hooked their elbows together and pressed up against his side to snatch away some of his warmth; Kazuto hadn't blushed like he would have if they were in a public setting, instead smiling and leaning into her as well.

Once they began to draw close to the front gate of the school, however, Kazuto tried to break the contact between them. It would do no good to show up to a school in Japan arm in arm, regardless of your relationship. The number of students around them was starting to increase as well, and Kazuto could feel the usual glances and whispers behind hands.

Asuna, however, would have none of it. She absolutely refused to relinquish her hold on him, and Kazuto had been forced to walk through the front entrance with the girl glued to him like a leech. This had, as expected, attracted quite a bit of attention from the other students that varied between gender. The guys stared daggers of envy into him, while the girls mewled in jealousy in a more discreet manner, although Kazuto still noticed. Personally, he had never really understood their chagrin at Asuna being his significant other; after all, he didn't consider himself an overly attractive person. Yet the female population seemed to feel otherwise.

"That's Kirigaya-san," came the whispers from the crowd.

"I heard he beat SAO all by himself. Is it true?"

"Yeah. He went into another VR game to save Asuna-san from some crazy guy, too."

"Ridiculous...he's just one guy!"

"Well, he's right there, isn't he?"

Kazuto, however, gritted his teeth and persevered. Finally, he managed to reach the front door and push it open, hastily retreating into the subsequent hall.

"Kazu-kun!"

Kazuto froze in his tracks when his nickname was called out. The halls of the interior of the school were almost entirely empty at the moment, since the first bell had yet to ring. Who could possibly have called his name?

Turning, he saw none other than Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth), standing with her hands on her hips in a rather disgruntled manner.

"Hey, Riki-chan!" Asuna smiled brightly, raising a hand in greeting.

"Eh? Oh, well, hi," The girl returned, her agitation slightly retarded by Asuna's kindness. Then she turned her attention on the boy before her. "Kazuto! What do you think you're doing, coming to school with Asuna like that? If you were looking to attract attention, you've definitely gone and done it. I hear enough talk about you two and your lovey-dovey actions around school, and this is going to make it even worse."

"Ah...well, sorry," Kazuto apologized as Asuna finally let go of his arm.

"It's all in good spirit, Rika-chan," Asuna smiled amiably.

Kazuto just rolled his eyes. "Let's just go to class," he sighed. "See you at lunch, Rika," he said before departing with Asuna in tow.

The former blacksmith crossed her arms over her chest and watched the couple walk away from her. Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, Rika thought, _He's so boneheaded..._

Footsteps sounded behind her. Turning, Rika saw Keiko (Silica) yawning as she walked towards her from the other end of the hall.

"Morning, Rika-chan," the younger girl yawned as she stretched luxuriously to loosen her muscles. "What's up?"

"Same old thing," she replied. "Wondering about him."

"Hm..." Keiko murmured. "Well, Kazuto isn't a normal guy, that's for sure. It's no wonder all the girls want him. It's almost ridiculous, how they act around him," She added with a snicker.

"You act all smitten when he talks to you too, so your laughter isn't justified," Rika quipped at the freshman. Keiko reddened in anger at the none-too-true statement, but she was smart enough to let the comment slide. A surprising decision, considering Keiko was one of the more rebellious underclassmen. No respect for her senpais at all.

Above them, the first bell rang its chime across the high school's campus. Darting her eyes towards the source of the sound, Rika said, "It's time to go to class. I'll see you later, Keiko."

"See you."

The atmosphere of the halls eventually became more heavily saturated as the rest of the campus's population began filing its way inside. Soon enough, the air was filled with the sounds of people chatting about this and that, yelling about this and that, fighting about this and that. Lockers were keyed open and slammed shut, shoes clicked against the floor, and a general cacophony dominated the area. Sighing, Rika began to make her way towards her first period class. Ever since her foray within Aincrad, she'd grown appreciative of the quiet the early mornings provided. After all, she spent the rest of the day banging on swords with a hammer.

Rika eventually managed to leave the hubbub of the initial morning crowd behind; she'd never enjoyed being squashed between large amount of people, as she suffered from a minor case of claustrophobia. Not to mention the obvious looks a couple of the guys sent her now an then. Rika was, on the whole, considered by other to be a very moral and straight headed girl, so most people wouldn't try anything "naughty" with her. There were exceptions to every rule, however. That was, Rika realized then, one of Kazuto's many endearing traits. She knew that he would never look at another woman's body in such a way if he could help it. Not to say that Kazuto never experienced any thoughts like those when it came to the opposite sex, as all men did, but he could be gentlemanly when he needed to be.

_I actually sort of wish he would look at me in that way, once in a while,_ Rika thought as she walked briskly through a part of the school which was currently still isolated. During their sentence in Sword Art Online, a potential relationship with Kazuto, then Kirito, had seemed impossible. He and Asuna were already too close, and they did make a great pair...but ever since their awakening, there had been this renewed since of want, no, _need. _She'd promised that one day under the bridge that she would back off, although his warmth would stay with her for a while. And it had faded indeed, over the course of time. But now it had turned into an inferno.

_I know Kazuto really likes Asuna. _Rika looked up and saw the door to her classroom at the end of the hall. _But I really like him. It's been a month since Keiko and I called that ceasefire so he and Asuna could enjoy their time together for a little while. But now that time has passed, and Asuna-chan is out of rehab, so she can be more independent now. I don't want to hurt either of them by making my own advances, but...I just...I need to try. At the very least, to calm this heat that I carry around with me...or I'm afraid I'll be consumed by it._

At last, Rika reached the door of her first period Economics class. Taking out her student ID and swiping it into the slot nearby, she waited as the door slowly hissed open to allow her entry.

Once she'd stepped in side, the first thing she noticed was Kazuto sitting in his usual seat by the window, hand propped on his wrist, staring languidly outside. The skies were a little gloomy today, despite the summer like weather earlier, with small hints of rain here and there. Rika took a moment to stop in her tracks and just observe him for a moment. _His eyes suit the sky so well. I wonder what he's thinking about?_

Just then, Kazuto seemed to sense that he was being watched and he turned his head to look straight at her. Rika instantly blushed to the roots of her hair and almost ran to her desk in the middle of the classroom. Kazuto just frowned in confusion before he went back to staring out the window.

Having reached her desk and set up a barrier with her open textbook, Rika tried to suppress her rather severe blush. She always hated being caught doing things that were embarrassing or not allowed, and she'd never been the best liar. Taking a deep breath, she rose her head from behind her textbook.

"Morning, Rika-chan."

Blinking, the former blacksmith looked up to see one of the other girls from her class grinning widely at her. Kuroneiko-san, if she remembered correctly.

"Good morning," She said softly, too afraid to use the girl's name for fear she would use the wrong one.

"I saw you looking at Kirigaya-san just now," Kuroneiko said, a teasing lilt to her voice. "My, my, Rika-san, don't tell me you've fallen for his charm too?"

Dismayed to find that her blush had returned at full force, Rika retorted, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please. Every girl in the school always looks at him and swoons. I don't blame you for feeling the same way, and I doubt anybody else would, either. There's just something about him that attracts people, you know? Even guys. He just gets into your shell, I've heard."

_You have no idea,_ Rika thought as she contemplated Kuroneiko's words.

"Look, now. It's happening as we speak."

Turning, Rika saw Kazuto chatting in a friendly manner with a girl she'd never really spoken to before. She'd seen her in class and around campus, but they'd never had any more contact than that. They seemed to be having a very engaging conversation. Kazuto laughed lightly at something the girl had said, who raised a hand to her face in a way that suggested she was giggling along with him. Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously when she saw the girl turn to sit on Kazuto's desk, a fact made worse by the knowledge that Kazuto would be too accepting to tell her to get off.

_She's pretty,_ Rika thought, chagrined at the observation. It was true. The girl had long, luscious brown hair, and her eyes were a startling shade of pure cobalt blue. Rika's dismay deepened when she looked further downwards and saw her long, smooth legs, coupled with a skirt that was long enough to comply with school regulations but teasing enough to be attractive. She appeared to be wearing minimal makeup, and even so she stood out. The girl laughed with Kazuto about something again, and Rika chest was seized by a sudden emotion that felt ugly and bad.

"Jealousy, I see," Kuroneiko said in a sagely manner. "I suppose it would effect you more than others. You spent two years as his friend in that death game, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And she's just some girl who's probably gathered enough courage to talk to Kirigaya-san for the first time today. And she seems to be doing a hell of a good job about it, too. I know Kirigaya is a nice guy, but he really seems to be enjoying the conversation. What do you say to that?"

"Why do I have to have anything to say?" Rika asked lowly, irritated as Kuroneiko pointed out all the positives of the cobalt-eyed girl.

"Don't forget, you aren't the only one who's got the hots for that guy. Asuna-san too. If not for yourself, do something for Asuna. If she was in this class with us, what would she have done in this situation?"

"She probably would have done something inappropriate to Kazuto to scare her away," Rika murmured. She spared another glance at Kazuto and the girl. Sighing, she stood up in her chair. "Fine, I'll go."

Kuroneiko squealed in anticipation as Rika steeled herself and approached Kazuto's desk. As she drew closer, the attractiveness of the cobalt-eyed girl became more and more prominent. The girl looked up and stared at the former blacksmith as she approached, and Rika thought she saw a hint of a smirk on her pink lips for a moment. What did that mean?

"Ah, Kazu-kun," Rika said, purposefully accenting her use of the nickname. The girl, who Rika had taken to thinking of as Blue Eyes, shot her a look.

"Oh, Rika. Hello again," Kazuto greeted with a smile. "This is Narumi-san. Have you ever met before?"

_Narumi,_ Rika thought as she engaged in a brutal staring contest with the slightly taller girl. _That means growing beauty...fitting, I suppose. _

"I can't say we have," Rika said flatly. "In any case, Kazu-kun, I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me later today?"

Kazuto tipped his head at the rather unusual offer while Narumi's glare sharpened.

"I was planning to ask him that _myself,_" Said Blue Eyes in a low voice.

Rika turned her nose up at the young beauty and said nonchalantly, "Don't care, I asked him first, so he's eating with me."

Narumi literally hissed, pretty brown hair swaying to the side. "Well we were having a rather candid conversation before you came around, Rika-san. Isn't that a bit rude on your part?"

_The nice-girl facade has completely disappeared,_ the former blacksmith thought in amazement. _How stupid can you get?_

"I don't think Kazuto would want to eat with you, anyways," Rika replied softly, reaching out to grasp one of the boy's arms in her hands. "So he's eating with _me."_

"Eh?" Kazuto exclaimed, shocked at the direction the conversation had taken. "Guys, come on, you don't have to fight over this. It's just a silly lunch-"

"Shut up!" Both of the women growled at once. Kazuto sighed and sank lower in his seat.

_Women._

Meanwhile, Rika and Narumi continued to argue. The verbal warfare increased in volume and severity until it could be clearly heard from the far side of the classroom, and the other students were beginning to watch the heated debate with interest. Kazuto cursed under his breath at the attention. This would just turn into more gossip, which he absolutely despised. So he decided to make another attempt at ending the conflict.

"Um...girls?" Kazuto said hesitantly. Both warring women turned their eyes on him.

"I really appreciate that you want to eat lunch with me," Kazuto continued, trying to look as grateful as possible.

"But I've already made plans to eat with Asuna."

This, understandably, unleashed their wrath even further.

* * *

The lunch period that day was a rather tense one, to begin. Kazuto just barely managed to slip out of the door the moment the second bell rang, too soon for either Rika of Narumi to catch him. He really didn't like ditching them in such a manner, but he'd promised to eat with Asuna first. If Rika or Narumi had asked beforehand, he would have kept his promise.

Meanwhile, the smell of the soap used to clean the halls of the schools faded out to be replaced by the aroma of shedding sakura trees as Kazuto left the school building and made his way towards the adjacent bench area. Most people chose not to eat their lunches there, despite the rather attractive scenery, and those few who did sat relatively far from each other, Kazuto and Asuna included. So it was a great place to enjoy the company of another person in private or even on your own. Squinting briefly as he entered the bench area which was shaded by the bare branches of the sakura trees, he spotted Asuna waiting on their usual bench.

Already feeling a smile staining his face, Kazuto made his way quietly behind the bench, trying his utmost to avoid notice. He actually managed to sneak up behind his significant other without being caught, but Asuna seemed to be in deep thought at the moment. The wind blew slowly through the bench area, swishing a small pile of sakura leaves across the concrete path. Asuna's head shifted slightly to note their movement, and Kazuto seized his chance.

Moving forward, he clapped both hands over Asuna's eyes and sang out, "Guess who?"

"Isn't it usually the girl who does that?" Came Asuna's voice almost immediately afterwards.

Rather confused, Kazuto kept his hands where they were and asked, "What do you mean?"

Asuna let out an affectionate sigh and pulled Kazuto's hands away from her face, instead positioning them so that his arms looped around her neck in a sort of half embrace. "In every drama and anime, it's the girl who surprises the guy from behind, not vice versa. Don't make me question your sexuality again."

"Again?"

Finally, she laughed. "Just kidding."

"Uh huh..."

The rest of their lunch went on to proceed rather smoothly. Kazuto had prepared his own food to eat, but Asuna pulled her usual magic and produced two rather delicious sandwiches from her lunchbox. As they ate, Kazuto joked that he only loved Asuna for her cooking, which earned him an earnest punch on the shoulder that would bruise the next day. She'd laughed and pecked him on the cheek afterwards, however.

"But really, it's strange that you're good at cooking in reality as well is in SAO," Kazuto commented as he dusted his hands off of any residual crumbs.

Asuna tipped her head at him as she sucked the last of her lunch off her fingers in a slow manner, drawing his attention to the girl's mouth. "What's so strange about it? I enjoyed cooking before I ever played SAO, and I pursued it in-game because the VR mechanics helped me do things that would have been impossible in reality. When I got back I couldn't use those game engines anymore, but I've still learned alot."

"Mm..." Kazuto murmured, although he wasn't really paying attention to Asuna's words anymore. Rather, he was studying the movement of her pink, tender lips as they sucked away at her fingers.

Asuna blushed profusely when she realized what the focus of her boyfriend's attention was. "S-Stop it, Kazu-kun," she stuttered, ceasing her sucking as she ducked her head down to hide her flush. "I get embarrassed when you look at me like that..."

"Sorry," Kazuto smiled, not sounding very apologetic at all. Reaching out, he pulled her slim frame against his body and rested their temples together. "You just tempt me sometimes."

"That so?" Asuna whispered, almost absently as she found herself becoming lost in Kazuto's specially unique scent. The smell of something fresh, like mint, with a slight trace of masculinity mixed within.

"Yeah," Kazuto said. He turned his head so that their noses were touching, and he used his other hand to twine his fingers within Asuna's hair. Despite the apparent confidence in his moves, Kazuto's mind was racing; they had only kissed about six times during the month Asuna had been awake, and it was still unfamiliar territory to him. He tried his best, but it was simply too easy to lose yourself against the feeling of Asuna's tongue...

"K-Kazu..to.." Asuna breathed, her eyes becoming half lidded as their mouths grew closer, closer, until their breaths began to tickle each other's lips in a rather thrilling way. Suddenly, Kazuto was glad their new eating spot was out of sight of the school building, unlike the previous location they had frequented. There weren't any other people around, either.

Kazuto abruptly realized that Asuna was waiting for him to take the lead. They had remained stationary, lips just barely touching, for a few seconds now, and his heart was beating like a machine gun inside his ribcage. Licking his lips one final time, he went in for the kill.

Their lips had just slipped together and the beginnings of a moan had just begun to rise in Asuna's throat when a high pitched voice shattered the atmosphere.

"Kazuto!"

The young couple flinched badly at the sudden interruption, causing their lips to yank apart with a pronounced _pop_ and their teeth to clack together just once. Looking up immediately, Kazuto saw a rather irritated Keiko standing before them with her hands placed on her hips.

"K-Keiko!" They both yelped, going completely red in their faces as they scrambled away from each other towards opposite ends of the bench. Meanwhile, Keiko pouted in a manner that revealed her anger and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Really, what do you two think you were doing? And at school, too!" The freshman paused in her lecture to tug briefly at one of her ponytails. "You could get in trouble for things like that, you know!"

"I'm sorry," Kazuto and Asuna apologized, momentarily forgetting that they were being scolded by a freshman.

Keiko just sighed heavily out of her nose. Then she brightened up. "In any case, I wanted to eat lunch with Kazuto-kun," The freshman chirped, hopping onto the bench in order to occupy the newly created space between the young couple. She almost immediately shimmied as far towards Kazuto's side as she could without pushing him off the end of the bench. Smiling slightly, Keiko remembered the conversation she'd had with Rika mere minutes earlier.

* * *

"So time's up for them, huh?" Keiko had said softly to Rika in the empty classroom.

"Yeah," The senior had replied. She was sitting on the windowsill and leaning against the glass, apparently lacking any delusions of falling to the ground many floors below. Tucking her short hair behind her ear, she'd continued, "We aren't the only ones besides Asuna who like Kazuto, and we knew it. The ceasefire we called didn't just prevent us from making Kazuto unhappy while Asuna recovered. It gave everyone else a chance to take an interest in him as well. It's time to end the ceasefire."

Keiko just remained silent.

Frowning, Rika swung her legs off the sill and landed on the floor below. "Or I will, at least," she added. "If you don't want-"

"What, are you kidding?" The freshman had suddenly said, a mischievous smile dominating her face.

"I'm gonna get the head start on you!"

And with that, she'd taken off to find Kazuto.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the present, Asuna was becoming rather irritated herself.

"What do you think you're doing, Keiko?" The senior demanded.

"What? I'm enjoying lunch with my _onii-chan,"_ The freshman cackled, putting extra honey on the last three syllables.

Asuna went red in the face. "You...when..._what?"_

"Kazuto enjoys my company! Isn't that right, _onii-chan?"_ Keiko snickered, leaning her lithe, young body into the boy's side.

Kazuto yelped in surprise and scooted as far as he could towards the end of the bench, which wasn't enough to proved an escape. "Ah...of course I do, Keiko, but Asuna and I were having lunch..."

Keiko pouted like a lost puppy, instantly drawing Kazuto's attention, him being a classic "nice guy."

"But don't you love me, onii-chan?"

"Alright, that's it!" Asuna declared, leaping out of the bench to manually force some distance between the freshman and her significant other. This accomplished, she plopped herself down between them with a sharp _hmph!_

"Hey, no fair!" Keiko whined.

"You can whine all by yourself," Asuna shot back, her words frigid with malice. "Kazuto belongs to me."

"You shouldn't be so selfish, Asuna," Keiko complained. "Sharing is caring."

"This isn't sharing! It's downright rude!"

As the freshman warred against his significant other, Kazuto sighed and tried his best not to be shoved off the end of the bench. He didn't understand Keiko's sudden change in character; she was almost never pushy or inappropriate or rude, but today she was proving to be quite exceptional in all of those categories.

_But anyways, what is this, a harem?_ Kazuto thought irritably as the two women continued to argue over him.

* * *

If the night is when time is conquered by the uproar of drinking men, then the morning must be the hangover phase, and the evening a preparation time for yet another night of partying. Or at least that was one philosophy Kazuto held about bars. He tended to gravitate towards the belief that everything had a cause and an effect, that nothing came into existence by no justification. Sure, alcoholics spent all their nights downing beer, but what did they do in their spare time?

_Well, they sure as hell don't come back, because this place is always as empty as a graveyard,_ Kazuto thought as he neared the door of Agil's coffee house/bar. The sun was beginning its daily plunge beneath the horizon in the sky, and its bleeding rays cast a scarlet affect on everything he laid his eyes on. Finally reaching the wooden door, he reached out and pushed it open, hoping to get out of the confusing scenes a setting sun caused. Plenty of significant events had taken place here, he remembered. This was where agil had shown him that picture of Asuna, trapped within an industrial sized birdcage atop the peak of the World Tree. This was where the Offline Meeting had been held. It was also where Kazuto had shared many casual conversations with the owner of the bar, who he felt was more mature than most people he spoke to and was more understanding of his own ideals. It also happened to explain his presence at a bar at five in the evening.

"This place is always empty," Kazuto said loudly as he made his way into the building and let the door fall shut behind him. "Do you ever get any business?"

"Shut up," Agil chuckled from behind his usual spot at the bar. He was cleaning a recently used glass with a dishtowel, which was apparently something a stereotypical bartender would always be seen doing.

"I'm just joking. I'm sure this place gets wild once the night falls."

"You have no idea," Agil sighed as he put away his glass and the towel. "Last night a large group of friends barged in and the designated driver got heavily drunk, so they tried to hire an eighty year old woman to chauffeur them home. It was uncomfortable to watch."

Laughing softly at Agil's tight expression at the memory, Kazuto slid onto a seat at the bar and rested his arms on the polished wooden surface. Agil slid over the usual glass of ginger ale, which he picked up and sipped at gingerly (no pun intended). Shivering briefly as the carbonated drink rushed through his taste buds, Kazuto placed the glass back down and turned to stare out the window. The sun had made enough progress by now to shine weakly into the bar, painting the hardwood floor a deep shade of orange. Kazuto's eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the city's activities outside the window, like it was some sort of magical mirror that allowed him to observe the lifestyles the metropolis contained. He was startled to find that he was displeased by what he saw; it was recognizable, surely, but definitely changed all at once. Just another reminder that nothing was really constant. He may have convinced Asuna otherwise, but the very same fear lingered in his own heart.

"Alot's changed, hasn't it?" Kazuto said absently, picking up his ginger ale only to swirl it around in the glass.

"Mmm," Agil nodded, following Kazuto's gaze out of the window. "What's so interesting out there?"

Kazuto gestured vaguely outside with his glass. "I don't trust what I see out there anymore," he sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean nothing has been persistent since I've woken up. Everything's changed and it'll never be the same again. Thing's change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody."

Agil hummed in understanding and resumed his cleaning of the glass. Making sure the scrub every last crevice in the cup clean, he said, "Have you lost any friends since SAO, Kazuto? I'd argue for the contrary. You've met Asuna, haven't you?"

"But Silica and Rika have been acting so strange lately," Kazuto shot back before downing the last of his ginger ale in one go. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he continued, "And I've told you about what happened with Suguha. Now there's going to be a memorial with Saturday for the deceased players. After that, it'll all be wrapped up and done. The SAO incident will be purposefully shuffled away from people's memories because it's something that's best forgotten. But now that everything's changed, what do people like me and Asuna do? The world seems so untrustworthy now."

Agil didn't answer his young charge immediately. Instead he took his sweet time rolling up the cuffs of his sleeves a bit higher before formulating his reply. "I think, Kazuto, the reason you feel that reality isn't constant anymore is because your time in SAO and ALO have altered your perception of what's real."

"What?"

"The virtual reality has become an integral part of you. It's something that nobody can deny, and some may even see it as something to be proud of. But there's always the old saying that too much of anything is no good for you. You have to realized in the end that virtual reality is just that, virtual. But it's taken root somewhere inside of you and it won't let go easily. That's why you don't trust what you see out of that window, I think. Try taking another look outside, Kazuto. Would it hurt to try and understand what's out there?"

Breathing heavily out of his nose, Kazuto turned his neck and stared out of the window once more. The sun had fully set by now, and the first lights of the city were beginning to blink to life. This time, instead of noting what had changed, Kazuto tried to look for things he recognized. There was the supermarket he'd been going to for a decade. There was the top spire of his old middle school, and he knew from experience that his favorite baseball field was somewhere off the to east, out of sight.

"Nothing has to be refined by top-notch graphics and sensory details to be noteworthy," Agil continued. "I know I just said that VR has its grip around you, but it's also taught you something very important. You go into games like SAO already knowing who you are and what you wish to become. The real world is where you're born, and it's where you begin the journey to find yourself. That's why reality trumps virtuality."

Almost out of nowhere, Kazuto chuckled mirthlessly. "I've never heard you speak so deeply," He laughed.

Agil smiled with him. "The situational calls for it sometimes," He said. Then he swept his arm around to indicate his entire store. "When I woke up from Sword Art Online, Kazuto, I expected this place to have been out of business, shut down and sold already. But it hadn't been. It was still here, thanks to the hard work of my wife. She alone kept it going hoping I would return one day to retake it. That's what I think is really important. Things will change, but friends will always love you. That's just the way the world turns."

Smiling as he tapped out a short beat with his nail on the wood surface of the bar, Kazuto said, "Okay, Agil. I think I understand what you're saying, sort of."

Agil nodded in appreciation. Then his expression grew more businesslike.

"This leads me to my next topic," he said seriously, reaching into his back pocket.

Kazuto stared at the small sheet of paper the bartender procured and opened it when it was handed to him, instantly reading its contents:

_Dear Kazuto Kirigaya,_

_As the mayor of this prosperous city, I extend a warm welcome towards you. I have been notified of your brilliant achievements within the death game known as Sword Art Online, as well as your heroic actions within the servers of ALfheim Online. We are sure that you have already been notified of the Offline Memorial taking place this Saturday. Due to the high status you have achieved among the survivors of Sword Art Online, you are hereby formally invited to speak at the event before those who attend. We wish for you to share your thoughts and feelings about your experience within the game as well as voice thoughts of sadness for those who have passed from our world; but of course, what you choose to say will be entirely up to you. Whether you are able to accept out request or not, please send your reply back through Agil. We look forward to potentially being your audience at the Offline Memorial._

_-The Mayor._

After reading the note scrawled messily on the paper two more times, the first thing Kazuto said was,

"Why is this written on paper?"

"The mayor's old fashioned," Agil said simply.

"So he wants me to speak before six thousand people," Kazuto realized in a blunt tone. "No pressure."

"Well, you could always refuse," Agil pointed out. "Though I don't think you should. It's a good opportunity for you."

Kazuto sighed into his collar. "I don't know...I've never been a great public speaker. And I'm no good at writing speeches. What would I talk about? Would they even care to listen?"

Agil stabbed his finger at the note in his charge's hands. "It says right there, Kazuto. You've achieved 'high status' among the survivors of SAO. Even I know that is true. Most everyone respects you. Just share your feelings, Kazuto. Open up a little bit. You spend plenty of time integrating yourself into other peoples' hearts. I think it's time you did the same for everyone else."

Kazuto stared at the note for a bit longer. Then he sighed a second time.

"I'll think about it."

"Good man," the bartender nodded. Then he shooed the younger boy away. "Now, get out of my bar. The regulars are going to start coming now that night's fallen and I don't need them recruiting you to replace their designated driver."

* * *

"The mayor invited you to speak at the memorial?"

"_Yeah,"_ Came Kazuto's voice from the other end of the line. _"I can refused to speak if I want to, but Agil thinks I should do it."_

"Of course you should do it!" Asuna exclaimed as she switched the phone to her other ear. Kazuto had called just as she'd come out of the shower, but Asuna wasn't about to tell him that. "Nobody understands the pain SAO caused more than you. I can attest to that. There's nobody more qualified to speak before everyone."

_"That's what upsets me."_

"Oh, don't be such a crybaby, Kazuto. Whatever you say, people will love it, as long as it comes from your heart. You're a nice guy inside, after all. And much more. You just have to let them see how that ties into SAO."

_"Will you write the speech for me, then?"_

"No."

There was silence at the other end of the line as Asuna quickly slipped into her sleeping clothes. Finally, after about thirty seconds, Kazuto spoke again.

_"Say, Asuna...can I ask you something?"_

His tone caught her attention. "Of course."

_"Have you thought about what you're going to do after high school?"_

Asuna froze just as she was clipping a hairpin to her head. Picking up the phone again, she pressed it gently to her ear, thinking hard about what she was about to say. Certainly, she was pursue a decent college education...but what then? What would she even major in during college? She hadn't had the time to think about those things. They were just too ordinary to worry about.

"I don't know," she said back at last. "There's just been so much going on. What about you? Do you know what you want to do in your future?"

_"I was maybe thinking computer science, or software development,_" Came the prompt response.

Asuna rolled her eyes. _Nerd, _she thought affectionately. "Are you going to apply for UT,* then?"

_"Maybe...if I study my butt off for the entrance exams. But I'm still lingering when it comes to college. After all, it might mean we'll have to separate. It may become necessary."_

Asuna breathed heavily out of her nose and looked at the moon from her window. Constant.

"We don't have to think about that now," she said back. "I have to go to sleep now. Goodnight, Kazu-kun."

_"Goodnight, Asuna. I..."_

"Yes?"

A brief silence.

_"I...nevermind. Sweet dreams."_

The line went dead.

* * *

**Please review for more, it keeps me motivated.**


	3. It Takes Courage

**New chapter. Perhaps a filler of sorts, but better things to come.**

* * *

Chapter 3: It Takes Courage

He'd always been unnerved by the presence of corpses.

Kazuto narrowed his eyes slightly at the rows upon rows of graves laying before him, planted neatly side by side within the boundaries of a wide, lush expanse filled with peaceful greenery. Seamless grass grew along the pathways that carved their way through the cemetery, never overgrowing anywhere or petering out to reveal dead patches. The occasional sakura tree rose from the earth here and there, spreading its flowery leaves in full bloom and shedding the violet feathers across the tips of the tombstones which rose vertically from the earth. The very air was completely still. Nothing disturbed the dead but the singing of the dawn's birds.

While deaths in SAO had been as real as could be within a virtual reality, the aftereffects of death were still largely absent from the game's graphical algorithms. Just a brief glow and glitter, than an explosion of pure white polygons that degenerated within moments. Nothing really special.

But in the real world, dead people stayed behind.

Kazuto's eye twitched slightly as he visualized the two thousand plus bodies that were lying underneath the everlasting protection of the earth. He knew that Sachi was under there somewhere. So were the rest of the members of his very first guild. The Commander of The Army Guild. Kuradeel. The casualties of the 75th floor boss fight. Countless others.

Despite Kazuto's personal conflicts with the definition of constancy, he was well aware that Death was unrelenting in its persistence. For it was allies with Time, and both were inevitable. He knew his parents were never coming back. Sachi wasn't going to come back either. Seeing the graves sprawling out before him on a sunny Saturday morning added more salt to the wound that already dug deep into his heart, but at the same time seeing the bodies buried peacefully at last brought a measure of relaxation to his psyche.

Asuna stepped up quietly beside him and wordlessly looped their arms together. Like him, she was dressed in formal black attire for the occasion. While Kazuto was someone who usually gravitated towards darker tones when it came to choosing his clothing, Asuna was a brighter type. So seeing the girl dressed in black clothes exuded a sort of mature feeling, as if she'd gained a few more years out of nowhere. It was fascinating and unnerving all at once, so Kazuto chose to ignore that particularity and quietly watch the birds flit from tree to tree as they completed their own morning rituals.

"They're all there, then, huh?" Asuna whispered at last, pressing up against his side with a gentle push. While Kazuto was sensitive to the subject of death and its consequences, Asuna was even more vulnerable to the pain it brought.

"Yeah," Kazuto replied with equal secrecy; it was important to avoid disturbing the peace at any cemetery. "All of them."

"They all had their whole lives ahead of them," Asuna sighed, leaning her face into his collar.

That had been Kayaba Akihiko's true crime, Kazuto agreed. Trapping ten thousand players within a death game was surely reason for persecution, but the man's real wrongdoing had been his theft of time. Not just the two years he had stolen from each and every person, but the hundreds of individual years he had robbed of two thousand. Two thousand unique human beings who could have been their own people, built their own futures. But Akihiko had eliminated that possibility.

_I'd hate to die before I've lived,_ Kazuto thought moodily as a cloud briefly passed overhead, blotting out the sun for just a moment. Extending his arm, he pulled Asuna as close to his body as possible and allowed himself to lose his grip on the world within the intoxicating scent of her hair. To him, she was the very definition of perfection; there was nothing he could think of that he disliked about Asuna. Her beautiful personality, her stunning looks, her focused mentality. Even her endless stubbornness served to paint the portrait of Yuuki Asuna, and he wouldn't have changed what he saw for the world.

_I want her to be mine forever,_ Kazuto suddenly thought as Asuna wordlessly accepted his embrace, even advancing it. _I can't bear the thought of losing her. She means everything to me._

But why couldn't he express how he felt about her? Just three words. That was all it would take. Three words. Eight letters, three syllables.

And a world of promise.

_I guess I'm just a coward._

* * *

The actual memorial itself took place a ways from the original cemetery site. It was a large, now empty stone square which served as a sort of marker for the location where the dead had been buried. The stone flooring extended from the entrance of the cemetery and spread outwards through overlapping hexagons, ending when it had formed a rough circle eighty yards across from any point. All signs and booths had been cleared from the immediate area. Visitation hours had been suspended for the day, and the roads had been blocked off the prevent any vehicles from disturbing the silence that slept peacefully among the three thousand odd survivors who had chosen to come to the memorial. Suddenly, Kazuto realized why the roads had also been closed off; the multitudes which made up the crowd overfilled the square and spilled out onto the asphalt of the streets, and from there they extended even further.

_I have to speak before this many people?_ Kazuto thought fiercely, his fingertips twitching as he were preparing to fight some sort of invisible enemy.

Asuna noticed him staring out over the expanse of people and squeezed his arm reassuringly. "It'll be alright," She said softly. "Remember, it just has to come from the heart."

"The heart..." The boy muttered, still unable to break his gaze from the crowd.

Suddenly, a strong hand clapped on both Asuna and Kazuto's shoulders.

Turning, the young couple saw Klein standing before them, smiling slightly. His usual trademark face-wide grin was replaced by something a little more mature and tempered, degraded by just that much due to the atmosphere of the memorial. His bandana was absent as well, so the older man had let his hair down for once. It fell about his cheekbones in a manner that reminded Kazuto of his initial SAO avatar.

"Klein," Kazuto greeted firmly, clasping the red head's hand in his to shake it.

"Long time no see, squirt," Klein smiled, also keeping his voice to a low monotone. "We have a lot of catching up to do. Since when were you being invited by mayors to make speeches?"

Kazuto blinked and glanced up at the tall stage that had been temporarily set up at the center of the congregation. "People know about that?"

"They're all expecting you," Klein said simply. "Everyone. So don't mess up."

"Yeah, thanks," Kazuto muttered irritably. "Any more words of wisdom?"

Klein let go of his arm and raised his own hands in defense. "Just saying."

A uniform shift in focus. Nearly everyone in the vicinity turned their heads in the same direction when someone seemed to tap experimentally on the head of a mic. Looking up, Kazuto saw the mayor of the city standing behind the podium, his hands placed firmly on either side of the top surface, eyes narrowed to scan the crowd in an almost analytic manner. He shivered when the mayor's gaze swept over him and locked on there; his eyes contained a distinct intelligence not seen in most men. Finally, letting go to the wood of the podium and straightening up, he spoke.

"Welcome, everyone," The mayor spoke in a low, level tone. "Welcome to the Offline Memorial."

A smattering of claps. The speaker remained silent until it had passed.

"I would like to thank you all for attending this memorial," He then continued. "It is inspiring and touching that so many are able to empathize for those who have fallen permanently due to the crimes of one man. It represents a unity among us, not just as players, but as people as well. So for that, I thank you."

This time, Kazuto joined the rest of the crowd as they repeated their clapping with a louder volume. Just then, a heavy hand tapped his shoulder once more.

Turning, he saw Agil standing behind him with a broad smile on his face.

"Come with me. It's almost time."

_Gulp._

Agil helped out by grabbing his arm and leading them both through the labyrinth which was the crowd. The tall African American could effectively see his destination above the heads of his shorter neighbors, and they reached the back of the stage in almost no time. Agil had Kazuto stand just by the steps leading atop it and told him to wait there.

"The mayor will summon you when it is your time to speak. When he does, proceed. After you have spoken, step back down. He'll then close the event. Got that?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Kazuto murmured.

Meanwhile, the mayor continued his monologue. "I cannot pretend to be able to understand your experiences within the death game. In the end, I was but a bystander who could only watch and prepare as you all strove for survival. Despite my wishes, I am in no position, both emotionally and logically, to speak about your ordeal with much detail. Which is why I have brought an individual who can. Someone who has weathered through the struggles by your side. Someone who understands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Kazuto Kirigaya."

The said boy flinched at the introduction he was given; he'd hardly fought side by side with any of the players, if you discounted boss fights. He'd been a solo beater, after all. Forcing his wobbling legs to function properly, he began to gradually climb up onto the stage. The murmurings of the crowd intensified as Kazuto gradually exposed more of himself to them, and he could feel six thousand eyeballs trained on his face. It felt like the skin there would burn off from the attention being focused on it. Yet Kazuto forced himself to remain neutral looking on his exterior, and began to walk across the stage towards the podium at its center. Every detail about his own movements seemed to stand out; whether or not his shoulders were squared, whether his feet moved along in a straight line, whether he was even _walking _in a straight line...

At long last, he reached the podium. The mayor smiled amiably at him and stepped away from it, walking to the far side of the stage and standing there with his hands clasped in front of him. Drawing in another deep breath, Kazuto stepped behind the podium and gazed out on the crowd before him.

A sea. That was what it was. A cliche'd description, surely, but it is overused for a reason. Face upon face, all holding their own individual thoughts and secrets, all turned on him.

Waiting.

Clearing his throat to test out the mic, Kazuto pulled his jaw open and said,

"Hello, everyone...it is very nice to meet you."

It was so silent that Kazuto could hear his own breathing.

A clap. Another clap. Then another, and another, and yet another. Suddenly, the congregation erupted into a cacophony of whoops and cheers and yells as they chanted his name, his epithet, his status, his achievements. Kazuto blinked in shock at the sudden uproar and could only observe as the crowd allowed itself to go completely berserk for just a moment before gradual settling down once more. The second Kazuto realized they were waiting for him to speak again, he made the decision to forge forward.

"The mayor has already said this, but I would like to thank you all for coming here today. It means that we're all still strong. That Kayaba Akihiko wasn't able to break our spirits with his death game. But we are not here today to celebrate the achievements made by the living who walk this world, no, today we have gathered here to honor to sacrifices of those who have fallen...and will never stand back up in our world once more."

His heart was beating so fast that he genuinely feared that it would overexert itself to the point of implosion. The insides of his palms were already drenched with sweat, and behind the cover of the podium his foot tapped wildly against the wood flooring in a desperate effort to alleviate himself of the tremendous amount of tension building up within him. His mouth had gone dry and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Kazuto hadn't bothered to bring a copy of his pre-written speech with him; he was exceptionally skilled at memorization, but now doubt made him unsure. Darting his eyes downwards, he hastily found Asuna's face into the crowd. The girl noticed his searching gaze and offered a thumbs up.

_That's it?_ He thought it despair.

_This is going to take years off my life._

"These people were, in every sense of the word, ordinary. They had dreams, and they had goals. They aimed for great heights and had their failures; they forged friendships and made enemies. To them, Sword Art Online was a way to extend this method of lifestyle. In fact, to us all, it was a way to live life without the restrictions reality places upon us. They walked among us, and we walked among them. Even when the virtual reality became the death game, they never differed in their mentality, and neither did we. Everyone gave their collective effort to save themselves, and others, from doom. It is this sacrifice that I believe to be the most genuine of all; the sacrifice of self, in order to potentialize the safety and happiness of another. We all took this upon ourselves the moment we destroyed our first monster, or took out first step from the Town of Beginnings. Even those who lost hope and never left the starting town contributed, because they gave everyone else a cause to fight, so that people wouldn't be forced to rot away at a second rate inn.

"Yes, we all found a way to fight. We all showed the strength of the individual, and the beauty of unification among players and people. Everyone gave what they could, but who gave it all? Those who fell. Those who gave the precious gift of Life, the thing that held promise, the thing from which comes love and beauty and future."

The mayor had assured him through Agil that Kazuto's speech was meant to be concise and to the point, but still explanatory enough to leave a lasting impression. As he spoke, Kazuto observed the expressions of those in the crowd. He saw brows furrowed in concentration, and nodding heads filled with understanding. There were those who watched in awe, and those who looked on impassively. Finally, he looked at Asuna, who was watching with eyes so full of affection that it made his heart throb.

Clasping his hands together and placing them on the surface of the podium, Kazuto pressed onward. "During my earlier days in SAO, I was part of a guild named the Black Cats of the Full Moon. It had relatively few members, and our ability then was rather paltry. Our goal of catching up to those on the front lines seemed but a distant dream. But we strove to achieve higher levels, and over time we did. It felt like progress was being made. Everything just felt _right_. Then one day nearly all of us were trapped within an anti-crystal death room."

Judging from the shocked expressions on most of his audience's faces, Kazuto could deduce that they understood the repercussions of becoming confined in one. "We were still low level, and the monsters that spawned to face us inevitably overwhelmed everyone. I was the only sole survivor, and the rest of the guild members I was with were killed. Among those who died was a girl, named Sachi. She was timid and an introvert by nature; the thought of dying within Sword Art Online terrified her to the extent that she harbored an acute inability to fight. Over time, however, she began to improve, and I believed that she would excel with everyone else. Then that trap room ended it all."

Kazuto saw the looks of sadness on his audience's faces and hated it.

"I attended her funeral on my own time. As I passed by her open coffin and saw her face, I was stricken by how young and carefree she looked. All of the pain and worry was gone from her expression, and there was nothing left but a serenity that defied reality. That she had to die in order to achieve genuine peace was blasphemy and I knew it. After my battle with Heathcliff on the seventy-fifth floor, I spoke with Kayaba Akihiko for a brief moment. He told me that all he'd wanted was to fulfill his lifelong dream of the fortress that could float aimlessly through the sky. This is why I honor those who died in SAO. They stood against the power and versatility of this man's dreams and ambitions, and their deaths served not to feed his greed but to motivate us to destroy his hopes."

Kazuto took a final moment to make eye contact with as many people as possible, all the apprehension now wiped from his face.

"This is why I honor them. It is but one reason among many, but one thing is certain; they were heroes. Thank you for your time."

As Kazuto finally ended his speech and walked off the stage amidst a massive flurry of cheers and applause, he allowed himself the debauchery of aimless thought.

_Maybe I will be able to forget about this, after all,_ he thought as Asuna rushed up and tackled him with a rib-crushing hug. _Perhaps it is time to give reality a chance. After all, there's some pretty good stuff here too. _He smiled and hugged Asuna back.

_May you rest in peace, Sachi..._

* * *

The closing of the memorial marked the turning of a page for Kazuto and Asuna, as well as their friends and family. The massive congregation served as a sort of block, like a shelf where you threw all the things you didn't need anymore and left there to gather dust. To Kazuto, it finally felt like his ties to Sword Art Online had been voluntarily severed. He'd been reluctant at first to forgo something that had become a part of him for the course of two years, but he'd realized the point Agil had been trying to make that one day in the bar. Life didn't wait for anybody. So the only thing left to do was to follow it.

The memorial also marked the point where the normal everyday grind of life staged its comeback into all of their daily activities. He and Asuna were no longer allowed to skip school days for physical rehabilitation, and they were welcomed into the arms of society as full, capable members. This also meant that much more was expected of them, especially for someone like Kazuto. Aside from his achievements within the gaming sphere, his fellow students and teachers seemed to be under the impression that he was some sort of academic genius as well. Sure, his grades weren't so shabby, but it wasn't like he topped the class every time or anything. He'd only done that about five times; he usually hovered around third or second.

_Although second in the whole school isn't so bad, either...maybe their expectations are justified,_ Kazuto mused as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.

Asuna, meanwhile, had dedicated herself somewhat to finding a sort of purpose in her future that didn't involve video gaming or cooking. She knew she had exceptional skill in both, but realistically speaking it wasn't going to be that simple to set up a career on either front. The impending milestone of college was also quickly approaching; in just seven months from the date of the memorial, the first day of their university lives would begin. Kazuto had given at least a little thought on the matter of attending college, and had still decided to pursue a career in software development. He was already taking classes that fit the requirements, in any case. Plus it was a hobby.

But academics weren't the only things to change around Kazuto after the memorial. Since that one sunny day when Keiko had interrupted his and Asuna's lunch together, she, along with Rika, had seemed to go under a drastic personality change. They had certainly been friendly and supportive around him before, but this had evolved into something that Kazuto couldn't call anything other than _excessive expressions of affection. _It not only drove him crazy, but Asuna as well. It often became too difficult to spend time with Asuna during school due to Keiko and Rika's interference.

_Why now, though?_ Kazuto continued to wonder as he quietly slipped into his jacket. _What caused them to act now, of all times?_

_And what do they even see in me?_

Unlike many boys of his age, Kazuto was no airhead when it came to perceiving and interpreting the signs of interest from other girls. He never looked too far into any actions taken by those of the opposite sex, but he never totally ignored them either. This allowed Kazuto to develop fairly accurate portraits of what other individuals thought about him. This applied to anyone he knew, but Kazuto had had to use it most when it came to females. He could understand the difference between attraction and plain friendliness, and what Rika and Keiko were doing was beyond friendly.

_And why does it have to be me...it's not like they're undesirable or anything, but I belong to Asuna. Don't they know that? I think Rika should, at least. Keiko is a lot younger than the rest of us are, and her own feelings might just be the result of childishness. Rika though...she's plenty smart enough to know that I love Asuna. And she isn't the selfish type. So why?_

Sighing, Kazuto forced his arm through the right sleeve of his jacket and slipped into his shoes. He was about to pull the front door open when a tired voice called out from behind him,

"Onii-chan?"

Turning, he saw Suguha stumble sleepily out of her room, rubbing at her eyes languidly. It was still around seven ante-meridian* on a Saturday morning, and Kazuto saw the questions in his cousin's eyes.

"Ah, morning, Sugu," he greeted as the young girl walked up to him in her long sleeved pajamas. "I'm going out somewhere."

"Where?"

Sighing in exasperation, Kazuto replied, "Keiko-chan wanted to share some coffee today, or something...I don't really know. In any case, I promised I'd go, so I suppose I have to. I'll be back soon."

Frowning, Suguha finally managed to blink the sleep out of her eyes. The sun was just peeking over the horizon out the window, and it began to steadily illuminate the interior of the house. It warmed the wooden floor beneath her feet and made her squint again.

"You know, Onii-chan...Rika-chan and Keiko-chan have been asking you out to places quite a lot lately..."

Kazuto _hmmed_ under his breath. "I know. I haven't been able to spend as much time with Asuna because of it, but I value my friendship with them too." Then, he smiled sadly. "How about you, Sugu? Don't you want to go hang out with your Onii-chan once in a while?"

"Eh?" Suguha started, her ears almost instantly going red out of embarrassment. "What do you mean by that?"

Frowning in mock regret, Kazuto continued, "We haven't gone anywhere together in a long time...Sugu, don't tell me you don't like your older brother anymore?"

"I-It's not that!" The younger girl insisted vehemently. When her cousin just laughed, she gritted her teeth and almost pushed Kazuto out the front door. "Just go, already! Jeez!"

Kazuto didn't stop laughing, and Suguha didn't stop hearing it until she'd bundled him out the door and slammed it closed in her frustration. Panting slightly from the exertion she'd put on her sleep-tired muscles, Suguha allowed herself to rest by sliding down to the floor with her back to the wood of the door. As she sat there regaining her composure, she heard Kazuto chuckle one last time before walking away. Soon enough, his footsteps had faded.

Silence closed around the house again, but only for moment.

"Going out with Onii-chan, huh..."

Sighing, Suguha pulled herself off the ground and padded back into her room. Closing the door behind her, she turned on the shower in the bathroom that was connected. Waiting for the water to heat itself up, she slipped out of her clothes before jumping into the stream of water. After cleansing herself, Sugu dressed into some casual clothing and went out to the yard to practice her kendo. Despite it being seven thirty in the morning, the sky was already a deep blue and thin, wispy clouds passed by in their usual passive manner. Standing on the platform which protruded from the grass of the backyard, Suguha raised her arms above her head and stretched luxuriously.

Once she'd loosened up, she walked to the shed and retrieved her kendo sword. Taking the usual stance in the center of the yard, she commenced her practice.

There had always been something sooting about practicing kendo when she was alone. The strong, fluid strokes and the repetitiveness of the movement allowed Suguha to lull herself into a state of deep thought while her body did the work for her. As her makeshift weapon swung through the air with practiced accuracy, she allowed her thoughts to wander.

_What he said was true, though...we haven't spent any considerable amount of time together in forever. Not since the Offline Meeting, and Kazuto was more occupied with Asuna and the others then. We haven't gone to the park together since, or watched a movie with each other since. Even when Asuna was recovering, though, he was never this busy with other people. Maybe it's because Rika and Keiko are making their moves on him at the same time?_

Suguha suddenly blinked in surprise when she realized that her strokes were becoming to overpowered, too agitated. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she regulated the flow of her movements.

_It's not exactly an issue of love,_ she thought. _I came to terms with that a long time ago. But he's still a brother to me. Isn't it alright to want him to myself?_

"Hyah!" Suguha swung her sword downwards a final time before letting it rest there, supported by the strength of her wrists.

_Well, even if I were to try to make him mine, I'd be late in the game._

Knock, knock, knock.

Turning her head at the abrupt disturbance, Suguha set her weapon down on the grass before walking back into the house. Someone had just knocked on the front door; was it Kazuto again? If so, what for?

Reaching out, she grasped the doorknob and swung the door open.

"Onii-chan, did you forget someth-"

"Uh...hi, Suguha-san," Said a nervous Keiko.

A few minutes later, the two girls were sitting cross legged side by side next to the open back door, staring out at the garden which sprawled within the yard. It wasn't terribly expansive, but there was a sakura tree at its near center. Keiko had been absolutely impressed by the sight. Her home was rather modern, she'd said.

"So let me get this straight," Sugu spoke as she handed Keiko a bottle of water. "You forgot whether you told Kazuto to meet at the cafe or at our house?"

"Um...well, yeah, that pretty much sums it up," The younger girl grinned cheekily. Although she and Suguha were both younger than Kazuto, there was only a year in difference between the cousins. Suguha suddenly realized that Keiko must be a freshman. The thought struck a strange chord in her. Who knew Kazuto could attract someone like her...

"I came to check if he was still here or not," Keiko continued. "I'm sorry for intruding," she added, ducking her head in apology.

Sugu frowned in thought for a moment, then smiled. Patting the freshman's head amiably, she said, "It's fine. I'll call Kazuto in a bit and have him come back here. It' s a bit too late for coffee anyways, I think. You could spend time with him in another way."

Keiko nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds great!"

A silence lapsed between them then, and they spent it by staring out at the garden once more. The sun was out and shining, but it was still cool, and the breeze shifted the grass every now and then, as if the sky were snoozing peacefully. Suguha glanced at Keiko out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty, she decided. But in more of a cutesy way than anything else. Suguha tried to tell herself that this was her honest opinion.

"Say, Suguha-san," Keiko asked suddenly.

"Mm?"

"Do you think we look alike?"

The older girl started at the question and turned to face Keiko in full. A moment passed as their both studied each other's faces with scrutiny.

"Well...I guess there is some resemblance, but I don't think we'd pass as sisters or anything," Suguha finally answered truthfully.

Keiko smiled in understanding and leaned away. "Yeah, you're right. That wasn't exactly what he said, anyways."

"He?"

"Kazu-kun. Back in SAO, he helped me safe a friend from dying. We'd only met for the first time and he helped me out regardless. No other players would have done that. I'd heard about him before from gossip and such, and I figured he'd be really strong, really powerful, and mysterious. But he was kind and forgiving. One time when we talked, he said that I reminded him of his sister. So I asked him to tell me about you. He talked like he really missed you. I think he regretted some things he'd done that affected you too, but I couldn't be too sure. I was just wondering about that."

Suguha blinked in shock at the revelation. Licking her lips briefly, she turned away from the younger girl in order to think. He'd missed her?

"After what he'd done for me, I really looked up to him," Keiko continued admiringly. "He decided to be my friend and protector just because he felt like he needed to, not because there was some sort of incentive. That's something really special about Kazu-kun, I think. He'll help people because he's loving and caring."

_She's exaggerated some of those adjectives, but...I think she's got the right idea. _Suguha smiled to herself. Keiko seemed like a nice enough person. Genuine, at least.

"Come on," she said finally, getting up on her feet. "Let's go call Kazuto."

* * *

"We need to talk."

Asuna knew that tone. The one perfectly suited for enunciating the four most terrifying words. Lifting her head up from the book she'd been reading on the couch, she set the reading material down on her lap and give her mother her full undivided attention.

"Yes, Mama?"

Asuna's mother, Yuuki Kyouko, had been quietly enjoying a fresh cup of tea before she'd induced the conversation. Setting the china down on the glass table, she opened her mouth and said,

"It is about your future."

On the outside, Asuna's expression remained impassive and open. Inwardly, however, her consciousness snarled in frustration. She already knew what her mother intended on speaking with her about. There was no need to hide her true motives with synonymic words, she wasn't stupid. "My future, Mama?"

"Your financial future, particularly. It's about that boy. Kazuto Kirigaya."

Asuna cursed. It was Saturday, so her father was out golfing with his friends. Although most people preferred to enjoy the sport on Sundays, Mr. Yuuki liked to spend those days at church and with his family. Which meant there was to be no support for Asuna in the impending conflict. Kyouko had chosen the best time to strike.

"What about him?" Asuna asked, just barely keeping the sarcasm from dripping from her tone.

"I need you to reconsider the wisdom of your relationship with him. It isn't healthy for you future, Asuna. Just think-"

"There's nothing to think about," Asuna objected, cutting her mother off. "Mama, please, we've had this argument so many times already. And we always say the same things to each other. I love Kazuto. Isn't that worth anything?"

"You can't always be sure that the feeling is mutual," Kyouko asserted coldly. "Tell me, Asuna, has the boy even told you straight out about his true feelings towards you?"

Asuna was about to retort with a "yes" but stopped short when the question truly registered in her brain. Certainly, he'd demonstrated his affection for her countless times...but had he ever said that he loved her? Frighteningly, Asuna couldn't find a single instance in which he had. Breathing in deeply for a moment, she replied, "He doesn't have to."

Her mother smiled humorlessly and laughed under her breath. "How can you be confident in the feelings of a boy who can't even properly express himself? Does he love you or does her not? That is the thing about emotions, Asuna. They're never constant. They are always changing, and usually for worse. The only thing in life that is secure is value. This is why I keep pushing you to marry into a proper family! You know that it's only the best for you. Why can't you see that? Have you been blinded by your infatuation for this... _boy?_"

Asuna bared her fangs and stood up from her sitting position. "He's not a boy to me, he's a man! I don't care about how rich anybody is. As long as I'm happy with who I marry, I won't care about things like that. To be happy with who they are, not what they have. I've already told this to Kazuto-kun and I'm telling it to you now for the thousandth time, Mama. I may be young but I'm old enough to know what I want in life. Can't you see that?"

"What you want in life?" Kyouko seethed, standing up herself, although her petite stature didn't do much for her. Nevertheless, she cast an imposing figure. "Then humor me, Asuna. Let's just say that you continue your relationship with Kirigaya. Once you have him, what more will you pursue? Do you know? Do you truly understand what you will pursue for _yourself,_ not other people? If so, tell me, and I will gladly listen! If not, then cease your bickering and understand that I have lived longer than you and your infatuation combined. I know what's best for you. Don't you dare go and throw that away."

Asuna's expression turned from furious to depressed under the assault of her mother's words. Once Kyouko was finally done speaking, she whispered, "Then I'm sorry, Mama," Before turning and walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Her mother demanded.

"To pursue what I want for myself," Asuna said back softly, before opening the door and stepping outside.

* * *

Several minutes later, Asuna was walking down the sidewalk which led to Kazuto's home. A bit later, she reached the front door and knocked politely. She strainer her ears, though, when she heard two voices on the other side. And both feminine.

Just then, the door was pulled open. There stood Keiko, her usual jacket absent and the first three buttons of her shirt undone. Suguha stood behind her, also perspiring to some degree. It seemed that they had been involved in some sort of tussle moments before she'd arrived.

"Is Kazu-kun here?" Asuna asked.

"Not yet," Keiko answered. "But you can come inside."

_Thanks,_ she thought drily as the freshman allowed her into somebody else's house. _You sense of courtesy has really undergone some considerable development._

"Kazuto went out to a meeting place earlier but there was a change of plans," Suguha said as she dug around in the fridge she could offer Asuna a drink as well. "He'll be back soon."

"I see...who was he meeting?" Asuna queried, tucking a long strand of her honey-colored hair behind him ear.

"He and I were going to meet for some coffee this morning," Keiko pouted, "But I forgot where I told him to meet. So Sugu-chan said it was alright if I spent some time with him here."

The younger girl's explanation irked Asuna's beyond reason, but she was amazingly able to keep herself under control. "That sounds nice," She commented as her eyebrow twitched in agitation. "So what will you two do once he gets here?"

Smiling to hide a sudden blush, Keiko said, "Well, I was hoping we could watch a romantic movie together..."

_Thud._

One moment, Keiko was giggling at her plans. A blink later, and Asuna had the little upstart pinned to the floor by her arms and legs, shouting something that was exceedingly difficult to understand. Asuna's hands prevented any movement of Keiko's upper body, and her legs were restrained by the rest of Asuna's weight.

"_Romantic movie?"_ The senior roared, shaking Keiko like a doll. "Over my dead body! What makes you think you can just do things like that with Kazuto?"

The freshman let out another cheeky pout and whined, "It's not fair, Asuna. You can't have him all to yourself. Sharing is caring!"

"Don't go on about that again!"

The front door opened.

"I'm home, Sugu-" Kazuto's greeting was abruptly cut off when he took in the situation before him. It only took another two seconds for him to deduce what had taken place. Moving quickly, he grabbed Asuna and and hauled them both into the kitchen.

"Good thing I got here before you killed her," He joked once they were out of earshot. Asuna just humphed and crossed her arms, turning away from him. Frowning, Kazuto asked, "What's the matter?"

"You seem to have no shortage of company without me around," Asuna replied stiffly.

Sighing, Kazuto abruptly hugged his significant other from behind, causing her to gasp at the sudden contact. "But your company is always the best," He chided as he nuzzled her earlobe affectionately.

Asuna's breath hitched as his warm breath tickled her ear, but she kept herself under control. "But Rika and Keiko have been so persistence lately," she complained. "What's gotten into them? I haven't been able to hold a proper conversation with Rika for over a week, and she's my best friend."

"I'm sure it'll blow over eventually. It's just a phase," Kazuto assured hear. "And you don't have to worry, Asuna...I..."

_Yes. Please say it._

"I really care about you. So don't worry, okay?"

Asuna died a little inside at the obvious evasion.

"...Fine..."

* * *

**Doubt is always the destructor of trust. Hopefully Kazuto and Asuna won't succumb to it.**

**I would also like to mention that the scene between Keiko and Suguha was suggested by ****_TheGlaceonFanatic. _****It was a good idea to begin with and I felt that it was a good way to initiate the struggle between all the lead females of SAO for Kazuto's affections (seriously, I feel bad for the other guys in the series). Be sure to thank him/her in the reviews! ;)**

**See you next time.**


	4. Ambush

**Greetings, reader! I must apologize for failing to update over the week; I have been hideously busy. I'll try my best to post more frequently! Meanwhile, this chapter is a bit less meaty than its brethren, but I intend for it to set up several more plot points in later chapters. The character named Takashi introduced in this chapter is entirely OC and may or may not exist in canon.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Ambush

_Vindication is such a strong adjective,_ Takashi thought as he adjusted a few wires at the base of the full dive gear.

No, it wasn't the proper word to describe what he intended to accomplish. As he'd worked, Takashi had been searching for a singular, embodying word to describe what he was about to do. Certainly not _vengeance,_ that sounded too strong as well, like he was some sort of desperado. _Righteous_ and _lawful_ didn't fit either, because he had no qualms about admitting that his plans were nothing if not illegal. After all, it was easier to work outside of the restrictions of law than within them. His teachers had always said that he had the intelligence to do so much good for the world, but Takashi didn't see the point in that while evil existed to combat it.

Ever since he'd learned the English language during his late years in elementary school, he had taken to reading American fiction; he found them intriguing for their cultural difference and originality. Among the many fantasies and books he consumed was a series named _Artemis Fowl,_ by Eoin Colfer_._ It was the story of a young Irish boy who had been gifted with the strength of an incredible intellect. Unlike most feel-good stories, this boy utilized his potential to commit heinous crimes and improve his own personal status in life. Takashi had personally admired the boy, named Artemis, for his unflinching determination and complete disregard for lawful authority. Artemis knew his actions were punishable, but he didn't let that bother him.

_I'll have to become like him, if I want to be able to go through with this,_ Takashi thought as he absently fingered the wires between his palms. Wires weren't really used for full dive equipment these days, but his resources had been limited. So he'd had to go retro. _There's nothing but the goal. Artemis Fowl took revenge plenty of times himself. An eye for an eye. A life for a life._

Takashi's deep frown only intensified as he inspected his equipment a last time before leaving the room, letting the door bang closed behind him.

_I'll avenge you, Aniki._

Alas, it might have been beneficial for him if he had also read the biography on the all famous Gandhi; there, he would have found that "an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind."

Not that he knew that.

* * *

Asuna's hand twitched.

It felt a little empty. As she walked through the various shops and attractions the local mall offered, glancing at the occasional article of clothing, she wondered why. Closing the aforementioned hand into a light fist, Asuna repeated the movement a few times, pondering. It felt like something should be there, but what was it?

She sighed into her collar.

Who was she kidding? Asuna knew exactly what she was missing. Kazuto-kun. Whenever she'd been seized by a need to go on a small shopping spree, the boy would always follow along with an enthusiastic attitude. In fact, he'd be the one to drag _her_ around, something that conflicted greatly with the stereotypical expectation from a young couple at the mall. This was accented by the fact that Asuna was well aware that Kazuto had no special love for shopping, considering the rather uniform shade of clothing he wore. No, he'd simply adjust to fit her, and her desires. It always made Asuna feel guilty, like she was forcing him to change, but Kazuto had assured her that spending time together was more important than the setting. "As long as it's you," He'd smiled, "It doesn't matter to me."

_Maybe I should have brought him along,_ Asuna thought as she made her way to the food square to order her lunch. She'd neglected to notify Kazuto about her plans to go to the mall, and had subsequently gone on her own. Asuna had not really understood why she didn't allow herself to call the boy and tell him, but she knew deep inside that it was a rift that had been forced between them. Not from any fault of either of their parts, to be frank, but rather due to the continued efforts of Rika and Keiko. The latter proved to be the most troublesome when it came to their never ending conquest to win over Kazuto, because she could play off her actions as that of a child's and avoid a serious laydown when necessary. Asuna couldn't count the times the freshman had made the excuse of "being tired due to her size" so she could stay for just another hour.

Rika, on the other hand, had been a tad more mature about the whole thing. Her participation in their "conflict" was certainly irritating to begin with, but at least she didn't go to ridiculous lengths like her younger counterpart. Just the occasional invitation to share a brief lunch, or a short walk together through downtown. And Kazuto, of course, responded much better to this approach, a fact that Asuna found both charming and infuriating all at once. It made her wonder when her best friend's infatuation with Kazuto had really begun, despite that fact that the former blacksmith claimed it had begun a significant time after their first meeting. The truth was that she'd fallen for him less than fifty hours since their acquaintance, but that was something Asuna was kept unaware of.

In any case, the increase of activity between Kazuto and Rika and Silica had had an affect on his daily schedule, consequentially. Time with him that Asuna usually cherished for herself had to be divided between all three of them, and this obviously meant she didn't get to spend as much time with her beloved. It made what time they did share a little stagnant, knowing that somehow, Kazuto no longer belonged entirely to her. She knew she should have expected other individuals to make their advances on him, but she would have never imagined them to come from her two closest female companions. The rather irritating interest the other males of the high school expressed towards her also served to feed the mounting tension inside of Asuna's soul.

Despite her firm decision to never blame Kazuto for the current situation, as he had done no real wrong, Asuna couldn't help but feel a little frustration at him. She had a feeling that Kazuto was fully aware of the motives behind Rika and Silica's actions, yet he did nothing to affirm that his heart belonged with Asuna. Of course, this also brought up the issue that he hadn't exactly said the three magic words to her yet, but he'd already recognized the two of them to be a couple. So why did he allow it to continue? She couldn't fathom it.

Sighing heavily, Asuna flopped heavily into a booth at the food court without even ordering anything; she'd lost her appetite. She glanced in a cursory manner at the mass of menus situated at an angle with her eyes, but Asuna didn't really read what they said. Letting out an exasperated sound that went a little like, "bleh..." she spread her arms out on the table and leaned so that her chin joined the flat surface, as her fingers tapped away in agitation.

That was the most confounding observation yet. The three magic words. _I love you. _He'd more or less said it after their first kiss deep within the canyons of Aincrad, but since then he'd failed to express himself in an identical manner in reality. It awoke the horrible speculation that perhaps his earlier confession had simply been the product of a "spur of the moment" feeling, and all Kazuto harbored towards her a rather intense and elongated infatuation. If he really cared for her, why couldn't he say that he loved her? Asuna knew that she could easily say it to Kazuto, but she'd decided to avoid it once she'd realized that he was somehow lacking in the ability to say it back. She knew that the strength of the bond between them was virtually unquestionable, but nevertheless the bare fact that Kazuto couldn't express himself to her left a small pit in her heart.

_Oh, Kazuto, you idiot..._

* * *

Takashi had first been introduced to the virtual reality by his older brother. His first full dive into the computer generated world had been...unpleasant, to say the least. He and his brother lived alone, since both of their parents had died from cancer. Luckily, his aniki was old enough to hold a decent job and keep a roof over their heads as well as food on the table. Being only in high school, he'd depended heavily on his older brother for emotional and financial support; and although he was cold and unforgiving sometimes, the relationship between them had been healthy and strong.

Takashi had been more pressured into taking his first full dive than anything else. His older brother was an assertive type, and he'd wished to share his obsession with VR with his younger sibling. Takashi couldn't find a reason to say no, and since he respected his brother's interests, he'd gone and tried it. He'd linked into a beta server which had just gotten its butt off the ground, consisting of less than three hundred active players. Unfortunately, the lack of popularity the beta had resulted in it being vulnerable to hackers. During the first full out duel Takashi had managed to participate in with his new avatar, it had been against one of these said hackers. His opponent had managed to gain the ability to manipulate the pain absorber level during combat, and he'd been cruel enough to test it out by reducing it to zero during the fight.

Being new to VR and video games in general, Takashi had been severely beaten; while this may have been all right in any other circumstances, the lack of any pain absorbance whatsoever was cause for a rather traumatic experience. The blows had just kept coming without relent, as duels in that game did not end until one was killed. The pain hadn't stopped either, and he hadn't gone numb to it at all. His older brother could do nothing, as he was restricted from entering the premises of a duel. So Takashi had suffered, and suffered, until he died.

The second he respawned, the boy logged out at the speed of light and tore the NerveGear off his head once he'd awoken in reality. After throwing the demonic tech across the room, he'd curled up on the bed and cried for hours. His brother outlinked soon afterwards, and muttered a brief apology before leaving him alone. As Takashi lay there, the memory of swords biting into his flesh still vivid, he'd wondered. Wasn't virtuality's purpose to allow you to enjoy an enhanced life where human weaknesses did not exist? To roam freely without the restrictions mortality and reality placed on a person? If so, it shouldn't be possible to feel pain in virtual reality...he'd shuddered when he remembered every time that blade had dug into his body, every time his tendons had snapped under its onslaught, and then the bones underneath...

It was like he'd tasted death.

_I'll give them a taste of the same, and see how they like it,_ Takashi thought as he wet a small cloth and wiped it over the face of an ordinary kitchen knife. Inspecting the tip to make sure it contained no impurities that could potentially poison his blood, he shifted in his seat so that he sat curled with his knees against his chest.

_They altered the rules of a world where mortality should have been impossible...and I'll never forgive the pain I was caused because of it. Those who immerse themselves within the virtual reality will ultimately become ugly, twisted, former shadows of themselves...my brother just didn't know it. He never knew, and because of that he was trapped for two years. There he was killed, by the very same kind of people who nearly killed me._

Gritting his teeth to the point of breaking them, Takashi raised the knife and positioned it carefully over his left forearm.

_An eye for an eye._

He pressed the razor edge of the blade against his skin. The flesh there was pushed downwards from the pressure, not yet breaking but being stretched thinly.

_A life for a life._

Takashi overexerted his strength, forcing the edge of the knife to slip in between his skin, smiling weakly when fresh, thick blood flowed freely from the new wound. It dribbled rapidly from the newly made opening in his body, pattering softly onto the hard floor at his feet.

_Blood for blood._

Leaning downwards, he made a similar slash in his left calf, ignoring the pain that resulted. Cleaning the knife and putting it away, he washed his wounds before walking out of the bathroom.

* * *

After finishing the lunch she'd forced herself to eat, Asuna paid and left the food court at a leisurely pace. She hadn't bought as much as she'd planned to, but the amount she had was still enough to content her for now. Carrying her things with her, Asuna exited the mall.

She called a cab and entered it once it arrived, giving the driver instructions to where her house was. Once the cab had done its work, she left the vehicle and paid before it sped away to drive more folks around. She'd told the driver to stop about half a mile from where her house actually was, and now she was walking through the sidewalks that led to her home, not really thinking about much, really, until something caught her eye.

Actually, she heard it first. A muffled bumping sound, and then a loud _oof_ as someone fell to the asphalt with a dull thud. Stopping in the center of the intersection of roads she was taking, Asuna turned her head and stared into the darkness of an alley adjacent to her position. The banging around continued, and she narrowed her eyes at the disturbance. Due to the shadows the currently setting sun cast, it was difficult to make out what was going on.

Finally, the source of the noise made itself into view. The first thing Asuna saw was a boy, younger than her by a few years, hurtling out of the dark alley and plowing into the asphalt in a rather graceless sprawl. Taken aback by his sudden appearance, Asuna dropped everything she was carrying and shifted into a ready stance, apprehensive.

"Ouch..." The boy muttered, slowly beginning to pick himself up from the floor. He didn't seem to notice Asuna's presence. "That's going to bruise..."

"What, not hard enough for you?" Came a gruff voice.

Looking up, Asuna saw a brute of a man emerge as well from the shadows. Well, no, perhaps he wasn't a man. The male had some childish features left in his face, and he dressed like a young person. If this wasn't a professional weightlifter, it was a boy who had hit puberty rather early. Before the smaller boy could recover, he'd picked him up by the scruff of the neck.

"Hey!" Asuna yelled, catching both of their attentions. The larger boy turned his squinty eyes on her and dropped the smaller one like a sack of beans, turning fully so that he could advance as menacingly as possible. Asuna, however, stood her ground; she was stubborn and she hated bullies. Plus she owned a killer right hook; this fight would not last long.

"Who the hell e're you?" The large boy growled, flipping his greasy, blonde dyed hair out of his eyes. Asuna glared right back.

"Doesn't matter who I am. Leave that kid alone!"

The large boy threw his head back and laughed. "What e're you gonna do about it?"

Asuna's answer was a quick left jab that smashed into his nose, throwing bright stars into the boy's field of vision. He gasped and stumbled back, his top heavily build causing him to fall backwards on his rear. Asuna advanced her position and loomed menacingly over him, eyes alight with an unrestrainable fury.

"This is what I can do about it. Do you want any more?"

Gasping again, the large boy blubbered out something incoherent and stumbled to his feet. Asuna prepared for another attack, but instead he turned and ran into the opposite alley as quickly as he could. Sighing in relief, she let her arms drop and turned to see where the smaller boy was. There he was, still laying where he'd been dropped earlier. Asuna rushed over to his side and turned him over, quickly searching for wounds. She found a rather unsightly gash on the boy's left forearm, as well as an equally bad wound on his calf. Frowning in worry, she shook him until his eyes opened.

They were red. Deep red. Asuna shivered involuntarily at first sight, but she suppressed the instinct. It was ridiculous, this boy was harmless. His long, messy hair fell in waves in front of his face, reaching just past his eyebrows, and he had high, clearly defined cheek bones as well as a deep dip to his mouth. His appearance reminded her vaguely of someone, but Asuna couldn't quite place it.

"Hey," She said softly. "Are you alright?"

Blinking those bloodred eyes of his, the small boy whispered, "I guess so."

"Here, try to stand," Asuna soothed, helping him to his feet. The boy winched when pressure was placed on his injured leg, and Asuna frowned again in worry. "We should get you somewhere safe," she said. "My house is nearby-"

"No, it's fine," The small boy interrupted her suddenly. "I have a place where I can get medicine and bandages that is very close by. Thank you so much for helping me; that brute is always giving me hell."

"It was nothing," Asuna said assuringly. "You seem light enough, so I'll carry you, alright? Where's your place?" She asked as she bent and picked up the skinny lad in her arms. He really was light.

Seemingly without cause, the boy smirked at her.

"Not far."

A needle suddenly pierced her flesh, just below the collarbone. Looking downwards in horror, she saw the syringe loaded with tranquilizer being pumped into her veins.

She didn't even have enough time to groan before she collapsed.

* * *

_It's cold,_ Asuna thought when she regained consciousness.

And it was. She didn't immediately open her eyes once her mind awoke, finding her mental faculties were still too taxed to do much else than stare at the insides of her eyelids. She remembered the events leading up to unconsciousness in perfect order, but her incredulity at such a turn of events were suppressed by a general sense of exhaustion. Wherever she was, the wind was blowing strongly through the area, and it tangled in her hair before whistling away in that way wind always did. She was sitting, probably in a chair, but when she reached out she didn't feel a table in front of her. When Asuna shifted her feet against the floor, there was earth, not flooring.

She opened her eyes.

What she saw brought back memories.

Asuna was indeed sitting in a chair, but it seemed totally out of place when compared to her surroundings. She was surrounded on two sides by rock walls, and when she looked up it became apparent that she was within a canyon. Smaller boulders dotted the space at the bottom here and there, and the rest of the ground was simple sand. It was a scene she'd seen before. This place held importance to her. It was where Kazuto had killed Kuradeel. It was where they'd recognized their love for each other.

She blinked.

_But why am I here?"_

"Remember it, do you?"

The hairs on the back of Asuna's neck rose. Turning slowly in her chair, she shifted her view and saw the small boy from earlier standing in the sand behind her. He was the same boy, only dressed differently; he was adorned in a dark, flowing cape, and a gleaming ebony blade was strapped to his hip. It shifted slightly as he moved, rasping like a dying man.

"Who are you?"

The small boy smiled arrogantly at her. "I suppose it is your right to know who I am. Very well. I am Takashi. That is my name, both in reality and here."

Asuna blinked. "We're in the virtual reality?"

Grinning widely, Takashi spread his arms before him and said, "Isn't it obvious? How else could you have gotten here? I expected a quicker adaptation from you, Asuna-san."

Asuna narrowed her eyes when he used her name, and stood up from the chair so she could face him. It was then that she realized that she was dressed in her most recent gear loadout from Sword Art Online; a light armor set emblazoned with the emblem of the Knights of Blood. She reached at her hip to see if her rapier was there as well. It wasn't.

Closing her eyes, Asuna took a deep breath. She needed to prioritize, and fast. This Takashi had to have a motive for bringing her here.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Takashi's smile faded a bit, turning into a sort of half smirk. "Don't you know? My my...is it that easy for you to forget the crimes you've committed?"

"Crimes?"

"Killing, chiefly. You're a murderer. What do you have to say to that?"

Asuna frowned deeply.

"I'm not a murderer."

"You are!" Takashi suddenly spat, and his dark cloak flared behind him like it was a living flame. The very air got a little colder.

Asuna sighed and looked around her. "Did you create this place?"

Takashi regained a bit of his self control and straightened up. "Indeed. An interesting little thing, the World Seed. I suppose one could say it's brought more than enough benefit to the VRMMORPG genre. Although this doesn't really help you; if the World Seed had never been revealed, you might have lived a while longer."

Asuna's heart began to race a little faster at those words, but she held her ground. "Please, do explain further."

Takashi smirked at her again, and reached for his hip. Drawing his black blade, he positioned the tip by his ankle and began to advance towards her. Remembering her instincts from SAO, Asuna immediately began to back away and to the side; if she could initiate a circling, it would buy her time to think.

"I'll tell you everything while you lay dying of your wounds," the small boy whispered, and then he was gone.

Blinking, Asuna glanced left and right. Takashi had simply disappeared into thin air; where had he gone?

Her question was answered when a brief_ woosh_ sound emanated from behind her. Asuna had barely enough time to turn halfway before a solid kick connected with her midsection, driving the wind out of her lungs and sending her sprawling into the dirt. Coughing violently due to the rather vicious attack, Asuna fought through the pain that followed and pulled herself up before another barrage of blows could ensue.

Once she had her feet under her, Asuna turned and backed up against the wall of the canyon behind her. Takashi was smirking at her again, an expression she'd already learned to hate. Reinitiating his earlier advance, he said, "I asked you a question earlier. You remember this place, do you not? I do; after all, I modeled this area just like the memories showed me. My brother took a good look around before trying to kill your boyfriend."

The blood singing in Asuna's veins froze at those last words. No...impossible. He couldn't possibly mean-

"Yes, I do," Takashi hissed then, as if he'd read her thoughts. "You killed my brother. You might have known him by his display name, Kuradeel. You destroyed his life out of spite and you lacked the humanity inside you to spare him. _What do you have to say for yourself?"_

Without answering, Asuna gasped and stumbled backwards again. No. This was too much. Too much all at once. Kuradeel...he...

Kuradeel had a brother?

Takashi frowned grimly at her. "I'm disappointed, Asuna-san. I expected one such as you to at least put up for of a fight than this. Don't tell me you're surprised that Kuradeel had a little brother? Of course he did. He was a person, just like you, although I consider you to be more of a subhuman, you murderer." His tone hardened. "I was sitting by his bed when the NerveGear suddenly hummed and sparked. He woke up, you know, for just a second before the helmet killed him. He looked me in the eye and I saw the terror there. A pain that you caused. Then the microwave destroyed his brain and blood flooded from his ears..."

As the boy spoke, he closed the remaining distance between them. Asuna made a last desperate attempt to evade him, but she was unarmed and Takashi had her cornered. As the ebony blade closed in on her body, she thought, _At least it won't hurt._

She was wrong. It hurt more than anything else she'd ever experienced in her entire lifetime. The sword's tip plunged into the soft skin of her side, and blood - yes, _blood - _sprayed from the wound. Asuna fell to the floor and screamed, the cry going unheard by anyone who cared to aid her. Takashi walked over and loomed over her form, which was curled into a fetal position as blood continued to pour from her body. Asuna's muscles twitched every few seconds, sending brief spasms down her spine, and any more screams were stifled by the shear amount of agony she was experiencing.

"That is nothing," Takashi said softly as he raised his blade once again. "I experience that a hundredfold, when I was the one at the point of the blade. Now you'll understand by pain, and Kuradeel's pain, when I kill you. But before you die, I will tell you this; your true body is currently in a secluded room where no one will find us. We are both strapped to NerveGears. However, yours is set to kill should your heart stop beating in this world, while mine isn't. Even if you manage to overpower me and end my life, I will awake in reality and kill you there. I simply wished for you to understand the horror virtual reality can bring into a person's heart. It twists you and mauls you inside...it isn't human. It took my brother away, and people like you are soley responsible."

Asuna closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the end. It went against her will to give up so easily, but she saw no avenue out of this situation, no tricks up her sleeve, no trump cards to play.

"I spent years planning out this very moment," Takashi continued, seething now as his breathing increased its pace. "I only told one person about it; you met him, earlier. That big brute of an idiot. He's virtually useless, but he is loyal to me, and I have used him for my own ends. He wasn't really torturing me, you know. It was all an act. Unfortunately, my caretakers at the orphanage seemed to take note of my 'obsession' for vengeance. They thought my mental state was unstable. Can you believe the arrogance of some people? What I am about to do is _right..._ it is not something an insane person would do. I want my brother back more than anything in the world, but I can' t have that...so the next best thing I can do is kill you."

As the ebony blade rose once more to strike the killing blow, Asuna's hope died out.

_I love you, Kazuto..._

The sword descended.

* * *

Kazuto was about to bite into his sandwich when his phone buzzed.

Grumbling slightly at the disturbance, he fished the device out of his pocket and flipped it open. A notification for a new message was flashing on the screen. It was from Asuna.

Smiling, he tapped at his phone so he could read it. It had become increasingly difficult to spend time with her lately, and the distance had forced some hard feelings between them. He was glad that she had decided to open up to him at last.

Kazuto opened the message.

[_Help me.]_

* * *

**_Please review for more! :]_**


	5. Time of Need

**I AM BACK! I must apologize fervently yet again for such a prolonged absence, but I had to plan some rather important events and found my time preoccupied by them :( But I'm back now! Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Time of Need

The old, rusted metal door rattled under Kazuto's assault, but refused to yield.

"Dammit," He swore as he relented in his attack for just a moment to regain his strength. He and Rika were currently standing in the back of a rather shady alley within a massive web of side streets and back roads which often served as quick shortcuts, whether it be for leisurely travel or quick escape and evasion. It had taken Kazuto and Rika hours to hypothesize, GPS, and comb their way through the area until they'd come across this particular entrance which was barred from the inside. Its rather peculiar placement in the back of an alley with no buildings was suspicious enough, but the inability to open the door itself confirmed that this was where Asuna had to be.

As Kazuto resumed kicking at the door in order to break the bolt at the other side, he could not squash the uneasy feeling that they had been meant to find it. After all, wasn't it a bit too obvious? Yet even if it was odd, what was he to do? Leave Asuna to rot? The answer to such a question was obviously undeserved, so he had forced himself to push that thought out of his mind. To his left at the opening of the alley in the street adjacent, the setting sun was bleeding its rays into the asphalt, cutting vision and making the atmosphere seem all the more dire.

Rika, meanwhile, watched her friend go at the door like there was no tomorrow and said, "Ah, Kazuto..."

The boy ceased his kicking only long enough to turn and grunt, "What?"

"The door obviously isn't going to give at that rate," The girl said patiently, although her insides were screaming from worry for her best friend. "We need to find a better way to force it open."

Kazuto took another look at the resolutely standing door and sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "You're right," He conceded, stepping away from it. "But I don't see how else we're going to get through it, and we have to hurry. Asuna's in there."

That was true. Since they'd all awoken from the SAO incident, several of their family members of both sides had insisted they install emergency-use GPS tracking systems on each other's phones. Mind, they were only meant to be used in dire circumstances, but everyone had felt that this surely counted. The GPS was only capable of pinpointing the position of Asuna's phone with an margin for error of fifty feet, however, and while this was of remarkable accuracy, it wasn't enough to know for sure where the cellular device was. In this labyrinth of thin, branching roads, fifty feet was enough to contain three different alleyways. So they'd been forced to search.

Rika sighed with him and walked over to the door, hands wrapped around the area under her chest to combat the night cold which was about to set in. Observing the rusted plate of metal standing in their way, she said, "That's true too, but it's not like it'll just fall over if I kick it like this-"

The blacksmith's assertion was cut rather short when her foot made solid contact with the metal and caused the entire door itself to swing open.

Kazuto just stared at the black opening that yawned out before them and said, "I loosened it for you."

"That's not even possible! How'd it-"

"That's not important right now," Kazuto interrupted, choosing in a rare moment to ignore logic to pursue what he felt was more crucial. "We have to go find Asuna now. We're running out of time."

Rika glanced uneasily into the darkness awaiting them before steeling her resolve. Nodding in agreement, the two of them began to make their way into the hidden chamber.

The moment both of their feet hit the cold stone floor within, the door suddenly swung closed behind them. It was straight out of a cliche'd horror story, but the startling ominous boom and and immediate darkness was more than enough to shock them both. Rika sucked in a quick breath and lashed out with her left hand, gripping Kazuto's within her own cold palm. The boy stiffened at the unexpected skin to skin contact but relented, allowing their fingers to twine together and provide a certain measure of mutual comfort. Meanwhile, Kazuto pulled out his phone and dialed Asuna's number, using the light which emanated from the device to sweep the area.

An abrupt, piercing ringing sound suddenly permeated the atmosphere, causing them both to flinch a second time. A bright light appeared in the center of the room, the white halo it illuminated on the roof above shaking slightly as Asuna's phone vibrated steadily across the concrete flooring. Kazuto gulped and stepped forward, tugging Rika along with him as they approached the abandoned piece of tech and squatted to observe it. Kazuto reached out and picked it up from the ground, turning it over to inspect for any clues which might shed light on the location of its owner.

"Looks fine, but Asuna obviously doesn't have it," Kazuto said, his voice a low monotone. He stood up to continue his search, and as he did, his right hand knocked against something hard and metallic. Rubbing instinctively at the mark which appeared there, he groped with his other hand and felt at the object he'd struck; it felt flat and elongated, like a table, or some sort of metal plate. Probing further, his fingers encountered something more coarse and pliable. Hair. It had to be. In differing situations Kazuto would have retracted himself immediately, but something about the texture of the hair caught him off guard and he stood there, fingers tangled in a potential enemy's hair.

_There's something about it though, I just..._ Kazuto thought feverishly, daring to probe a bit farther.

"Kazuto?" Rika whispered, sounding concerned. "Are you hurt?"

He didn't answer. A memory was beginning to form in his consciousness, a flashback to a time in the past, a time when he'd sat at a hospital bed and helped comb a certain girl's hair...

Kazuto froze.

_Asuna?_

"Rika!" Kazuto almost shouted, startling his counterpart. "Try to find a light switch!"

"But it's dark in here!"

"Do it now!"

Either she decided to follow his instructions or she'd run out of the room, but Kazuto heard the sounds of scurrying feet by his side. After several minutes of muttering and grumbling from Rika, during which Kazuto waited fervently, there was a dull _click._

A single lightbulb hanging from the center of the ceiling flickered weakly to life. Despite its rather paltry abilities of illumination, it revealed so much more. The room was small, the walls, ceiling and floor made completely of simple concrete. The center of the space was largely dominated by two small, squat tables, with masses of twisted wires flowing from underneath their support trunks until they all congregated into a single, desk-sized hard drive sitting off to the right. The computer itself seemed to be of an old model, conceived sometime after the 2020's, considering the manufacturing style. Two thicker wires ran from the CPU and flowed into two rather primitive looking helmets. These helmets encased the skulls of two people, one of which Kazuto did not recognize.

He knew the other, though.

"Asuna!" Rika shrieked, rushing from the light switch by the wall to get to her best friend's side. Her hands immediately reached downwards to rip the old model NerveGear off the girl's head, but Kazuto shot forward and seized her wrists.

"No! What are you _doing?"_ Rika demanded, struggling mightily in his grip. "We have to get her out of here!"

"Just hold on a moment!" Kazuto said firmly, the seriousness in his voice enough to force the blacksmith to pay attention to his words. "There's something we need to check first."

That said, Kazuto released her wrists and stalked over to the computer, tapping a few keys to bring the monitor back to life. Thankfully enough, it had been left powered on and still logged in. He took a second to step back and observe the machine itself; the very existence of the wires was an identifying trait of VR tech from decades ago, before carbon data transfer had dominated that market. The entire processing system itself seemed to be a mash up of different specs in order to create some sort of rag-tag machine barely capable of supporting the World Seed. Eyes flitting rapidly across the dimly illuminated screen, Kazuto brought up the unit's terabyte history and performed a quick scan, confirming that this computer did indeed have the World Seed installed.

Kazuto turned and looked at the two prone figures with prototype full dive equipment laying not five feet from him. If this machine was powering whatever virtual reality Asuna and that stranger were in, then he should be able to dive as well using a third NerveGear. Of course, there was no saying what would occur once he entered the virtual reality, considering this was a world created by yet another crazy stranger. Death could become a very real possibility.

Turning back to the screen, Kazuto brought up the specifications for the full dive tech's purpose. Reading through the intel quickly, he told Rika, "It's a good thing you didn't take that helmet off. It's programmed to kill her if you do."

The former blacksmith's eyes tripled in size and she put a hand to her mouth, staring down in shock at her best friend, now out cold due to her virtual cage. "Oh, Asuna..." She whispered, panic finally beginning to set in.

"No, don't give up now," Kazuto said firmly, a deep rooted fury also evident in his tone. He walked over to Rika and placed two hands on her shoulders. "There's something you have to do for me."

The girl forced herself to inhale deeply before replying. "What?"

"You know basic algorithm programming, right? I need you to fight the CPU's system while I dive to get Asuna." Kazuto reached into his pocket and showed her an unlabeled mini-chip held in his hands. "After Agil and I released the World Seed, I was able to download all of my SAO perameters onto a couple copy chips. I never thought I'd need them, but it looks like the time has come. Insert this right before I dive and I'll spawn as the Kirito as he was on the seventy-fifth floor. The system is going to fight the chip's functions, though, which is why I need you to keep it at bay until I do what needs to be done."

Rika looked past Kazuto and at the oversized computer waiting for her, the gently humming wires, the dusty screen written in a language that she barely remembered how to understand. Suddenly, the tightness of the room seemed to have grown exponentially, and the CPU looked more like a technological monstrosity than a simple machine. Rika suddenly remembered a time long ago, set in another world, when she'd met a beautiful girl during a time when her smith shop had consisted of nothing more than a blanket and a smelting iron. Life had seemed safer then, even within the death game, but now this was reality and in reality you died forever.

She snapped back to attention when Kazuto shook her roughly, and was almost terrified by the dangerous determination she saw in his eyes.

"Please, Rika," Kazuto said softly.

"I can't live without her."

Rika's throat closed up at the last sentence, because this was yet another curse of reality, as it was a world where people came for a while before leaving forever. She would never have Kazuto, not when he would transcend worlds and slay countless foes for Asuna. The hurt at this sudden, if situationally discursive, revelation drove a needle into her capacity for rationality. For a moment, Rika almost refused.

But then she laughed at herself. Who was she trying to kid? She valued her bond with Asuna higher than anything else, right up there with her desire to be by Kazuto's side. If the latter was not to be an option, then better to preserve what good she already had, and in bounty. Rika reached out and took the mini-chip from Kazuto.

"Okay," She said, "You can trust me."

* * *

A minute later, Kazuto was laying on the cold concrete floor of the hidden room, the single light bulb in the ceiling shining harshly into his eyes. Somewhere to his right, he could hear Rika programming the computer to accept a third dive member, muttering slightly under her breath as she recalled the various methods of navigating a hostile system. Maybe he should have persuaded her to take that third-level programming class after all.

"I've got it," Rika called out in the meantime, placing her palms against the chilly steel of the CPU as she stared hard at the screen before her. "Just give me the word, and I'll hit the button. Is your NerveGear ready?"

Kazuto tightened the prototype spare he'd found in the corner and said, "This one isn't really called that, but yes, I'm ready."

Rika rolled her eyes at the offhand comment and slotted the microchip into the computer's hard drive feed, waiting until a notification popped up on the screen that it had been read. Rapidly typing in the full dive activation sequence, she muttered, "Good luck," before sending Kazuto under.

Almost immediately, the computer's anti-infiltration system went to work, fighting to decrypt the microchip's defenses and negate its content. It was fortunate that Kazuto had written his own defense program for the chip, or the computer would have overwhelmed it in seconds. Rika bit her lip in intense concentration as her fingers danced across the old-fashioned keyboard; it was old in the sense that it was concrete, not a projection, but I digress. The scripted numbers that ran steadily across the screen were reflected in the girl's narrowed eyes as she entered the microchip's defense codings and began to write new ones, throwing together random codes in an attempt to stall out the computer's attack. Those were destroyed too quickly though, so Rika found herself having to come up with more complex codes in even less time as the computer continued its relentless pursuit of the microchip.

_Please hurry, Kazuto,_ Rika prayed as she punched in another stream.

* * *

The world reappeared before him like a flickering lamp.

First there was just an image, presented too quickly for him to discern what there was to see there, but this image reappeared again and again in quicker fashion, the visuals fluttering before him in a frenzy until solidifying into one, uniform world. Kazuto blinked and looked to his side.

A blade descending towards Asuna.

There was no time to think. Only to act, and trust that his instincts and plans would carry out accordingly. Dropping into a half squat, he reached up and whipped his blade out of its well-worn sheath, arcing it downwards towards the ground until it stopped right before it made contact with Asuna's body.

_Clang._

The owner of the offending sword started and looked up at him, surprise written across his face. But when their eyes met, he smiled. Red eyes and tousled hair, a countenance consumed by malevolence. In the moment that Kazuto saw into those eyes, he saw an endless agony that had consumed any sense of reason.

Then time continued, and the stranger slid his sword out of Kazuto's block and stepped back, giving the Black Swordsman ample time to move over and stand between him and Asuna.

"It's about time you got here, Kirito," The boy with the red eyes said. "I was beginning to worry that I hadn't made it easy enough for you."

"It was plenty simple enough, don't worry," Kazuto hissed back, readjusting his grip on his sword.

The boy's gaze flicked down at his weapon before looking back at Kazuto. "I wasn't expecting you to have that. How did you manage it?"

Kazuto shifted into a ready stance and hefted his blade. "I have my ways."

The boy smirked at him.

"K-Kazuto?" Asuna said softly, just beginning to recover from her confusion at this recent turn of events. Kazuto allowed himself a brief glance at his lover, but forced himself to look away. It hurt to much to see her lying there, covered in blood, powerless.

"Don't worry, Asuna," He promised soothingly. "I'll protect you."

Her eyelids drooped halfway as she struggled to retain her consciousness.

"Thanks..."

The boy with the blood red eyes laughed sourly and said, "Love. A useful thing, is it not? I couldn't image how difficult it could have been to lure you into my trap without it. Affection is a weakness, Kirito-san. Remember that. You may not know who I am, but I hope you will heed my warning."

"Oh, I know exactly who you are, Takashi," Kazuto interrupted coldly, causing Takashi's eyes to widen. "I must say I'm so sorry for killing your brother, but I would end his life over Asuna's any day. I saw his grave at the memorial, you know. Were you there too? Were you able to pay respects to your dead brother?"

"Shut up!" Takashi spat, his hand flying to the hilt of his own weapon. "You don't know anything about me! You took Aniki without even thinking of the consequences! You're a monster! You're one of _them. _The people who think that the virtual and real words aren't tied together in any sort of way."

Kazuto frowned in sympathy and sighed. "It's true I used to differentiate between the two, but I've learned something very important. Something that happens in virtuality can very well affect reality. Asuna was the one who taught me that, because she was the first thing I thought of when I woke up after two years. And although I've been impossibly confused about some things lately, I've always known one thing."

He drew his second sword and bared his teeth.

"No one harms Yuuki Asuna."

Takashi's eyes narrowed, and he attacked.

When their swords crossed, the very planes of existence around them bent; for Kazuto's SAO perameters did not originate from this world Takashi had created, and thus conflicted with the system. Kazuto could imagine that Rika's efforts against the computer were also causing some of the distortion. The rocky walls that enclosed around them shivered and flickered when steel struck enchanted steel, the entire system groaning under the strain as it tried to keep up its work. They shared a few deft blows before parting for a brief respite, the visuals returning to normal around them.

Once they had parted, Takashi growled in frustration and leapt, denying the laws of gravity as he soared thirty feet into the air and landed somewhere along the lip of the canyon, out of sight. Kazuto snorted and jumped himself, leaping towards the sky in order to keep up with his adversary.

The moment his jump took him above the highest point of the canyon, something streaked across the edge of his vision and collided with his midsection, sending Kazuto's body jerking to the side to tumble into the choking sand of an endless desert dotted only with sparse shrubs. Kazuto let momentum do its work and rolled with the impact, landing nimbly on his feet. Raising his swords before his person, he was barely fast enough to block and incoming attack from Takashi's sword. Judging from the mortal wound Asuna had been suffering from, Kazuto could figure that pain and death were very real factors in combat here.

Takashi hissed and pressed his attack, whirling from side to side in a viciously unrelenting assault that whipped up a minor dust cloud around the point of conflict, cutting visibility and making the fight all the more difficult. Kazuto quickly realized the advantages Takashi held; being the creator, he was faster, stronger, more agile, and more in harmony with his environment. Only his prior experience and innovation kept Kazuto alive. The dual wielding helped, too. Takashi screamed in fury when his foe refused to relent under the impact of his enhanced blows, his anger reaching up to split the sky open above them.

_His emotions must have become tied into the virtuality through the full-dive specs,_ Kazuto thought as a torrent of rain began to pound around them. _If I push him far enough, will I be able to create an environment more in my favor?_

The abrupt appearance of the thunderstorm at least got rid of the irritating dust cloud, but it came in addition with the slipperiness that rain brought. As the heavens continued to darken above them and the sand beneath Kazuto's feet quickly turned into sloshing mud, he doubted his ability to alter the world to his favor. The hilts of his swords were slick with rain water, and every slash and hack almost sent his weapons flying out of his hands. At this point, the battle was still at a grinding stalemate, but any longer and Kazuto would be forced to retreat.

Takashi ducked then, and tried to sweep his feet from under him, but Kazuto hopped into the air and sent his foot flying into the boy's chest in a swift kick. Takashi cried out and fell back, hitting the ground heavily. When his body made contact with the earth, the world changed again. The sloshing mud beneath them was quickly overwritten by a sweeping tide of hard, blackened earth, cracked and glowing from the heat of a now-present magma pool underneath the outer surface. The only area, Kazuto realized, to be unaffected by the changes was the canyon, most likely due to the extra attention Takashi must have put towards it to duplicate one of Asuna's own memories.

Random flames began to burst upwards from the cracks in the hardened earth, and one of them leapt up to sting Kazuto's thigh, causing him to grunt at the surprising amount of pain he felt. Takashi took this opportunity to stumble to his feet and reinitiate his attack, forcing Kazuto back several steps before he was able to regain his bearings and defend himself properly. However, his weakened leg prevented any sort of advance on his part.

"Yield!" Takashi yelled, rearing back to slam his blade into his adversary's in a particularly strong blow, forcing Kazuto to cry out and stagger back on his damaged thigh. "Give up! Just die! You can't win, you worthless son of a bitch! How could you still resist me when you have no chance of survival?"

Kazuto could only groan when his injuries screamed under the pressure he was exerting on them. He tried to take a few steps back for a short rest, but Takashi only leapt after him to cover the distance and hacked at his neck, forcing Kazuto to bring his blades up to deflect the blow. The momentum behind the attack was too great, however, and he was pushed back on his weak legs until he stumbled onto the sizzling earth beneath him. Kazuto gasped in shock when the flames under the ground began to lick at his back, and rolled to the left in order to avoid both the heat and the impending attack. Takashi's blade plunged into the fiery earth a moment after he'd moved, and Kazuto forced himself to stagger back up on his feet, panting heavily as he prepared for their next engagement.

Takashi just scoffed and yanked his sword back out of the ground. "Just look at you. You're completely spent. It is the be expected, of course. I programmed this world with the intention of killing you. I can't lose here."

Kazuto just lifted his head and spit a glob of blood and saliva onto the boy's shoe. But before Takashi's face could even contort in rage, he said,

"You don't have to lose...I just have to protect her..."

Takashi frowned deeply at him. "Do you really think you can?"

Kazuto bared his fangs once more and readied his swords.

"I have to."

The skies rumbled when their blades crossed again.

* * *

_Shit, shit shit shit..._

Rika's teeth almost split the skin of her lower lip as she tried desperately to keep up with the system, throwing up ten codes in a minute only to find them being killed faster than she could make them up. She was running out of ideas, too. Maybe she should have taken the third level programming class after all.

Yet another source of stress for Rika was, however, Kazuto's well being. She wasn't sure if he had any sort of HUD in this virtual reality to be knowledgeable about his health level, but Rika was well aware of the fact that his HP gauge had fallen well below the halfway point. Admittedly, Rika didn't know what sort of situation Kazuto was in at the moment, but she knew in any other VR game he had participated in he had been nearly untouchable. It was unlike Kazuto to take so many hits and lose so much health points. So what could be sapping his strength?

Rika swore again under her breath when the microchip's third wall of defense crumbled before the CPU's anti-virus purge methods. Kazuto had set up five initial firewalls, but three of these along with several weaker ones she'd put up herself had been obliterated. Now only two of these initial walls stood between the computer and the microchip. If the chip's content were to be negated, Kazuto's avatar could be ejected from the dive, and that was the best-case scenario. It could be very plausible for Kirito's abilities to simply disappear from the system, leaving Kazuto as powerless as an ordinary human in a virtual reality. Then he'd be truly doomed.

_Asuna too,_ the former blacksmith thought fervently, flicking her eyes in a cursory glance at her best friend's own health bar. Asuna had had about two-thirds of her health when Rika had initially begun her programming, but she must be bleeding out somehow because the gauge had been slowly dropping for the past several minutes. Now she was at one-third. She didn't have the administrative authority to view the stranger's health gauge, assuming he even needed one, but Rika wouldn't be surprised to see that it was full. After all, this world had been created by him; he would have every advantage.

_But I can't just leave everything to Kazuto and hope he comes out of this alive,_ Rika thought. _If he gets skewered in there he dies here, too, and I'll lose both of my best friends. But what else could I do from here? I'm preoccupied enough with this coding...if only there was a way to immobilize the attacker instead, rather than defending..._

A lightbulb went off in her head.

"Attack! Of course!" Rika exclaimed, turning her focus back to the CPU screen. The wires intensified their humming as she entered a different view field, this time searching for the stranger's full-dive specs. It wasn't exactly covert information, so she was allowed to see it without a password. Rika brought up the intel and scanned it quickly, searching for a specific category.

_Security level: Omega._

She sighed in relief. The highest level of full-dive security, Alpha, was nearly unbreakable and could only be bypassed by the most skilled of hackers; beneath that was sub-Alpha, which was also beyond her abilities, but Omega...maybe. If she could find a flaw in the system's defenses, she could disable the stranger's NerveGear and force him to wake up. By pulling the only admin from the game, she should be able to initiate a total shutdown of the VR and pull everyone back to reality, where she and Kazuto stood a much better chance of survival.

Nodding to herself in determination, Rika began to hack.

_This is ridiculous,_ she realized suddenly. _I've never been a tech junkie. How am I managing this?_

* * *

Something in Kazuto's back popped when he was thrown across the floor and down into the canyon he'd woken up in, landing at the bottom with a rather painful thud. Groaning loudly at the pain lancing up his spine, he plunged a sword into the earth and used it as a makeshift crutch to pull himself back up. The current situation felt entirely new to him; in all his years of VRMMORPG gaming, he had very rarely been met or outmatched by other players, so the severity with which Takashi was batting him around at the moment was jarring. Of course, everyone had been playing on the same level in those other VRs. Here, everything had been purposefully stacked against him.

"K...Kazu...kun..." Asuna croaked weakly. She'd managed to drag herself to the wall of the canyon and lean against it, but she hand't been able to move since. The first bursts of blood that had risen from her body had dried by now, and it caked her skin and clothes, adding to the rather pale quality her skin had taken. Her hand covered most of the sword wound to stem to bleeding, but Kazuto could see the injury there, and it made him furious beyond reason.

He offered her a small smile. "I'm okay, Asuna," he called out to her. "I'll save you, don't worry. I dedicated my life to your here, remember?"

Whether she got the reference or not, he had no idea; all Asuna could muster was a minute twitch of her index finger.

Turning, Kazuto waited until Takashi landed softly in the dust as well, sword still drawn. Kazuto had by now figured out that Takashi's ebony blade was indestructible, and had given up trying to break it long ago.

_I didn't have a plan to begin with,_ Kazuto realized suddenly. _I just rushed in here without thinking. I acted confident in front of Rika so she would help me, but I really didn't know what I was going to do. Now I'm here, health probably almost gone, Asuna in equally worse condition, and Takashi's probably immortal himself. What am I going to do?_

"You look tired, Kirito-san," Takashi said drily, flicking his wrist and sending his ebony blade lashing out towards him. Kazuto tried to will his weak muscles to raise his own weapons in defense, but his slackened grip caused the dark blade to slap his Elucidator out of his gloved hand. The black sword spun out of his grip and clattered against the rocky side of the canyon, falling to the floor amidst a puff of dust. Kazuto almost sighed at this latest development and raised the sword Rika had forged for him in both hands.

Takashi smirked and hefted his own blade, whirling once to put momentum behind his upcoming blow. Kazuto forced himself to summon energy he didn't have and brought his Dark Repulser up to block the attack. The edges of the two blades met in a shower of sparks, and Kazuto was forced to widen his stance in order to prevent himself from folding over. Takashi did not pull his weapon away and instead pressed harder, fruitlessly at first, but slowly forcing his adversary lower and lower. A half minute later, Takashi had used brute force to bend him into a sort of half-squat, and Kazuto's arms trembled under the sheer weight he was trying to support.

Sighing in exasperation, Takashi drew his foot back and sent it crashing into Kazuto's shin. The Black Swordsman gasped and finally buckled, falling face first into the dirt while Takashi kicked his Dark Repulser away. In one last desperate attempt to survive, Kazuto attempt to tackle him around the midsection, but Takashi kneed him back into the ground, where Kazuto watched him, eyes full of hate.

Takashi stared down at him and hefted the point of his weapon.

"Goodbye."

The sword descended.

* * *

"I GOT IT!" Rika shrieked, jerkily punching in the final code string as quickly as possible while avoiding any mistakes; that would be detrimental. In the time Rika had spent trying to hack the stranger's full-dive specs, the computer's attack had punched through the second wall and was halfway through the first when Rika hit the last key.

[_PULL OUT SEQUENCE INITIATED], _flashed a message on the screen. It blinked there for several seconds while the humming of the wires grew exponentially, until the very air seemed to reverberate with the vibrations. The NerveGear around the stranger's head began to whirr, and Rika could only watch, praying for the best.

* * *

_Pshee..._

That sound. Kazuto could recognize it. It aroused enough curiosity in him to open his eyes from when he'd closed them to take the impending blow, but what he saw then told him the pain wasn't coming just yet.

Takashi was literally disintegrating into polygons before him, the glowing shapes multiplying across the boy's skin until they split apart and dematerialized into the air. Takashi was frozen during this process, and his eyes seemed to burn right through Kazuto's, who saw a world of pain and insanity in them.

Then he burst completely, and the small swarm of polygons fluttered up towards the sky until they'd all gone.

Kazuto went slack, then, falling like a sack of potatoes to the floor. He stared up at the sky for a moment, contemplating how lucky he'd just been. He couldn't really explain _what_ had just occurred, but he could assume it had to be Rika's doing.

_Asuna,_ he thought.

_Asuna._

Flopping over on his stomach, Kazuto half dragged, half crawled his way to his lover's side. The girl's eyelids fluttered open when he drew near, and they softened at the sight of him, something that made his heart throb. Sure, it had hurt like hell, but in the end Asuna was safe, and that was all that mattered. Pulling himself up beside her, Kazuto leaned against the canyon wall with Asuna and reached out for her hand, intertwining their fingers while ignoring the feeling of slick blood.

Asuna slowly tilted her head back and stared at the sky, then asked, "What's happening up there?"

Looking up as well, Kazuto noticed that the sky was fragmenting and falling apart, as if it had really just when a cleverly disguised glass dome. "Takashi's gone, so the world is falling apart. Don't worry about it. We'll be out of here soon, too."

Asuna sighed in acknowledgement, burying her face into Kazuto's collar. This simple contact was all that was needed to break the last of the man's calm, and he held her tightly, feeling the tears begin to flow.

"I was so worried..." Was all he could muster. It felt lame in comparison to his true emotions, but that was all he could say. Unless...

Placing a small kiss on Asuna's forehead, he whispered,

"I love you, Asuna."

Despite being half-unconscious, Asuna felt a warm flame bloom inside her heart at those words. _He finally said it._

And as the world collapsed around them, she smiled and let the warmth consume her.

"I love you too, Kazuto..."

* * *

**Please review for more!~**


	6. Under the Stars

**New chapter up. By far the longest for this story, if I'm not mistaken. Take it as compensation for my inconsistent updates.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Under the Stars

He'd always felt like hospitals were suffocating.

The countless visitors milling around, the educated professionals calling out names and carrying out procedures...it was repressive. Despite the initial purpose behind having a hospital, Kazuto was under the mindset that hospitals were where you went to die, and not necessarily in the traditional sense. Of course, lives had almost certainly been lost under the roof he was currently sitting. But there was something about the sensation of waking up to find a hard, unfamiliar bed beneath you, an IV drip in your artery, and a support system set up to your side. Like existing without aid was no longer going to be an option. There had been no end to Kazuto's ecstasy when he'd first been declared physically and mentally healthy by the physicians, but at the same time his own physique had felt clunky, underused, and rusty. Not to mention that, having lost two years of his life, it felt like he was to live a less fulfilling existence than those who had not been trapped within the death game.

So yeah, hospitals kind of irked him.

Yet his own well-being wasn't the issue this time. Kazuto was currently situated on a bench opposite a closed metal door, eyes trained on the status display fixed to its side, tracing the various glowing statistics and numbers shown there. Asuna was in that room at this very moment, a small team of doctors surrounding her prone form. The small screen glowing next to the door only provided basic vital signals for visitors to see, but it was all Kazuto had at the moment, and he had devoted himself to watching while he waited.

Most people would be under the impression that the minor use of an old prototype NerveGear was far from cause for panic, but said people would only consider that single event. Despite the NerveGear's especial prowess in its ability to sustain extended gameplay time, there is a limit to everything. Two years went way past the pre-set maximum of one hundred hours, at which point overexposure to scanner rays and lack of life-supporting substances taken from outside sources would lead to inevitable death. Only countless tubes and supplements had kept people like himself and Klein from dying. Once all of the surviving SAO victims had awoken, they were all taken into brain therapy as soon as possible. They were given treatments to combat the effects of overexposure and regrow damaged or destroyed nervous tissue that had been lost over the process of time; as well as provided with one essential rule: no VR. No virtual reality gaming, especially full-dive equipment, for at least ten months, to allow for total brain recuperation. Repeated exposure before this period of time could very well result in massive strokes or memory loss.

Asuna had been utterly unconscious when he'd torn the old NerveGear off her head, and she was still dead to the world now, as quiet men wearing rubbery gloves and masks went fervently to work in order to save the life of the girl he loved. He'd only just been able to tell Asuna that he loved her; how could he lose her now? Kazuto had learned from countless incidents that there were some things beyond his power. He could never reach the top of the World Tree in Alfheim, or defeat Heathcliff on the seventy-fifth floor when everything depended on it. For years now, it seemed like Kazuto's abilities could achieve anything unless everything hung in the balance. After which he would often fail, and end up with some sort of half-compromise that left him feeling hollow.

Kazuto's gaze flicked upwards to observe the status screen by the door and watched the heart monitor blip along at its steady pace. He was well aware that the heart slowed in its activity when one was unconscious or asleep, but the sluggishness with which Asuna's moved made his own triple in speed.

"Good evening."

In different circumstances, the hair on the back of Kazuto's neck would have risen, but the rather depressing atmosphere he'd wrapped around himself negated this. Turning, he raised his head and took in the miniature, imposing form of Yuuki Kyouko, Asuna's mother.

Nodding curtly, all thoughts of appeasing to the woman banished at the moment, Kazuto returned, "Evening," hating how his voice wavered from underuse.

Wordlessly accepting the reciprocation, Asuna's mother walked over to the bench and sat at the end farthest from him, although Kazuto still inched a bit towards his own end in a rather stiff manner. Several minutes passed like this, and not a word was spoken between the two of them, and Kazuto was content to let it stay that way.

But of course, Mrs. Yuuki had to shatter that dream. "Is my daughter in there?" She asked rather abruptly, gesturing at the metal door across the hall.

It was beginning to enter the deep part of the night now, and less visitors were now roaming the halls. Their entire portion of the hallway was actually empty aside from themselves. Glancing in a cursory manner towards the short woman, Kazuto said briefly, "Yes."

The woman nodded in understanding and let the silence lapse over once more, but broke it soon enough for a second time.

"And what happened, exactly?" Yuuki Kyouko prompted at last, apparently losing what little patience she had. "Out with it, young man. I must know."

Kazuto sat up a little straighter and finally turned his entire body to face the woman, who looked at him expectantly with that same passive expression she always wore. It was impossible to read.

"A young boy, by the name of Takashi, set up some old prototype full dive equipment and lured Asuna into his trap. He forced her into a dive and trapped them both within a world of Takashi's own creation, mainly through the capabilities of the World Seed Agil and I released a while back. Do you know about the World Seed?"

Mrs. Yuuki narrowed her eyes at him. "I do not care for the apparent hobby you and my daughter seem to share, but yes, I have heard of it."

"Takashi used the World Seed to replicate a location within Sword Art Online in order to introduce an emotional factor to his plans."

"And what, pray tell, were his 'plans?'" Mrs. Yuuki asked stiffly, nerves obviously at their edge. Kazuto usually hated to drive people past reason, but he was feeling ugly after the day's events and there was nothing left that he could do for Asuna.

"Takashi was the younger brother of a man I killed in Sword Art Online. This man, named Kuradeel, made an attempt on my life and came very close to killing your daughter as well. I took the only possible choice and attacked him, consequently lowering his health to zero and ending his life. Takashi wanted revenge, and rightfully so I suppose; I would have wished for vengeance as well. So he captured your daughter in order to lure me into his grip."

The tight expression on the older woman's face relaxed just a fraction when she finally got the information she wanted. "So I assume you came in time to save her?"

"That's the thing, Mrs. Yuuki. I did come to save her, but that was exactly what Takashi wanted. He wired all the available NerveGears to kill us if we were to die inside his virtual reality, and by equipping himself with every possible advantage, proceeded to try and kill us both. I was, however, able to use the abilities I gathered during my stay in SAO and use them to protect us through technological means. I didn't defeat him, but I stalled Takashi out long enough for our friend Rika to hack into the computer's system. She forced Takashi to wake up from his dive and ejected the rest of us as well."

The watch on Kazuto's wrist beeped when the hour turned, announcing that the time was 10 PM. Only silence followed as Asuna's mother mulled over what she had just been told, and he felt that the woman was analyzing the information in order to ask even more questions that he really did not feel like answering. All he wanted to do was sit here and think while he waited for Asuna, so that he could hold her and never let anything get to her again.

"I see," she said at last. "And what happened to this boy? Takashi?"

Ah, now came the difficult part. Making sure to establish eye contact, Kazuto said firmly,

"I'm afraid I cannot divulge that."

Kyouko's gaze sharpened a hundredfold at the refusal and demanded, "And why not? This lunatic tried to kill my own daughter. He deserves to be brought before the law and punished for his crimes. Do you not feel anything yourself for what he has done to Asuna?"

_He tried to kill me too, you know. _"You're right, and I do feel that way, but I can at least assure you that Takashi will never bother either of our families again. I made sure of that by giving him an opportunity to act like this had never happened. I think it's going to be fine."

Kazuto expected for Asuna's mother to begin some sort of heated debate regarding the due process of law, but surprisingly enough she just sighed and sat back in her seat.

"As long as my daughter is safe," She said blandly.

_That's true,_ Kazuto though, leaning his head back to stare at the lights shining in the ceiling until spots danced in his eyes. _In the end, we both want the same thing, for Asuna to be safe and happy. We just clash over who is more capable of providing that well being, is all. Like a game of golf where I've been handicapped for no reason._

By now, the entire west wing of the hospital was virtually abandoned. The only people left were himself, Asuna's mother and the doctors inside the room working on Asuna.

"But you entered another virtual reality game, ALO, soon after the SAO incident," Kyouko said suddenly, making Kazuto blink. "Yet Asuna is being operated on when she hasn't been exposed for several months. Why didn't you fall into a serious medical condition?"

_Oh, so she cares after all. _"Well, it is rather complicated, but basically I took a pill that quadrupled brain cell production for twelve hours. It was just barely enough from keeping my brain from cooking, seeing as the NerveGear was frying my newly-grown nervous tissue constantly while I was under full dive. Not to mention that Asuna was under for a longer continuous period than me. I did lose a very, very minor percentage of brain matter in the end, but all of my primary mental faculties came out of it unharmed. Although I do have some difficulty wriggling my pinky toe every now and then."

"I see..." Kyouko said, her voice trailing off as she, too, began staring at the status monitor on the wall opposite.

"Thank you, Kirigaya."

Kazuto's eyes widened when the meaning of those words registered in his brain, and turned to stare at the person who had emitted them. Asuna's mother just pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at the status monitor, refusing to make eye contact.

_Thank you, huh..._he thought, turning his head back and leaning against the wall. _Well, it's a start, I guess._

"Yuuki-san," he asked suddenly, causing the woman to look up at stare at him. "Can I ask your something?"

Kyouko frowned in her usual manner and gave her wordless consent.

There was a gap between replies as Kazuto mulled over what he was about to say.

"Do you dislike me?" He blurted out then, immediately hating how he'd gone about it. Rarely was he ever so forward with people, adults especially, and Asuna's mother never. Such a shallow inquiry was almost guaranteed to provoke a disgusted response from the uptight woman, and Kazuto nearly flinched as he braced himself for the inevitable tongue lashing.

It never came. Instead, the older woman simply sighed, her shoulders sagging just an inch.

"No, Kirigaya. I do not dislike you."

Kazuto looked at her out of the corner of his eye, waiting for Kyouko to elaborate.

"I am even grateful that you have saved my daughter's life," Yuuki continued. "And although my daughter and I clash over the topic of your relationship with her quite often, and in a detestable manner, I cannot deny the fact that you make her happy. Now, there is no guarantee that this means you are a good influence on her, but I appreciate that you seem to bring more light to her days."

"Why this...detachment, then?" Kazuto pressed, gesturing at the space they'd forced between themselves on the bench. After his previous blunder, he'd thought it best to continue the rest of the conversation in a roundabout way, but this now seemed foolish. He'd already asked an incredibly direct question; he may as well stay consistent in form.

Kyouko flitted her eyes briefly at the space between them. "All the emotional happiness in the world couldn't make up for the safety and security finance can bring," she explained. "Of course, I would never allow Asuna to marry an abuser or lunatic simply for money, and I did make a mistake with Sogou in that regard. To put it bluntly, you have missed two years of your formal education, I am not aware that you are pursuing any sort of commendable career, and you seem to have an unhealthy involvement with virtual reality gaming. On the whole, Kirigaya, I fear that the circumstances you bring to the table will not benefit my daughter in the end."

"Well, I am planning to applying to the University of Tokyo," Kazuto replied in a lame attempt to defeat some of the woman's arguments. "I'll probably major in software programming, and that's obviously in incredible demand these days."

Mrs. Yuuki smiled drily at him. "Let us not be glib here, Kirigaya."

Kazuto _humped_ and fell silent.

For once, the older woman's smile did not immediately fall off her face. "In any case, Kirigaya, I will not have to replace you immediately." He couldn't tell if that was a joke or not. "I do intend on having Asuna pursue a proper college education, and I obviously cannot have marriage interfering with her studies. So for now, she is all yours."

Although it hadn't been said out loud directly, Kazuto felt like he'd suddenly received some sort of go ahead. He turned to look at Asuna's mother, but she just smiled again and looked away at the door.

* * *

"Kirigaya, wake up."

Awareness. Flitting his eyes open, Kazuto squinted up at the harsh lights shining down from the ceiling, raising a hand to protect his vision. Blinking to banish the sleepy tightness from his eyes, he focused on Mrs. Yuuki and raised an eyebrow in question.

The older woman gestured at the status monitor, bringing his attention to the fact that it had turned off. Kazuto's heart skipped a beat at seeing this, because it only meant one of two things; either the procedure had been fully successful and Asuna was fine, or the patient had died and was gone. There was a tense moment suspended mid-air as the two of them waited, praying fervently for the favorable outcome to become a reality.

Finally, the titanium door slid open on smooth aeromotors and out stepped the head doctor of the procedure. Kazuto recognized him partially, since he'd spent plenty of time in this particular hospital and had had more than enough time to get to know the staff. This particular physician had short cropped, balding hair, and deep lines set into his forehead that foretold years of medical pressure and stress. He was still pulling the sterilization gloves off his hands when Kazuto and Mrs. Yuuki rushed up to him.

"Is Asuna alright?" Kazuto demanded, completely removing the need for courtesy in favor of getting information _now._

The doctor smiled tiredly at him and replied, "Your friend is absolutely fine. She's awake now, if you wish to speak to her. Just be gentle."

A collective sigh left both of their mouths at the news, and Mrs. Yuuki said, "We'll be going inside, then." The physician nodded his consent and left to clean himself up.

It felt like a sick bout of deja vu when Kazuto walked into the room and saw Asuna lying quietly on the hospital bed with the pale moon filtering in through the window to shine on her face. Her long, honey locks cascaded down the sides of her face, curling at the ends to wrap gently around the ends of her hips and frame her slender, delicate body. The bed she was laying on differed from the standard set, seeing as an operation had to be performed with it, and it was stored with more features and high end tech than its more mundane brethren. Nevertheless, Asuna dominated his field of vision, and her eyelids fluttered open when they drew near.

"Kazu...kun," She whispered tenderly, reaching out to twine her fingers with his. Kazuto saw a shade of sadness fall across her mother's face at that, and felt a pang of pity for the older woman. It must be disappointing to see your daughter reach for someone else in her time of need.

Smiling though, Kazuto squeezed her fingers lightly and said, "Feeling well?"

Asuna closed her eyes and smiled faintly. "Okay. Sleepy..."

"That's probably the anesthetic," Kazuto murmured as Asuna struggled to use her tired muscles to bury her nose into his shirt while Kyouko looked on. She muttered something.

"What?" He asked, reaching down to stroke Asuna's hair.

"Love you," She yawned, sighing as she allowed herself to fall back to the bed. "Love you, Kazuto..."

Kazuto blushed when he noticed Mrs. Yuuki staring at them after this particular exchange. Patting her head slowly, he said, "Rest," before watching Asuna fall into the depths of slumber.

* * *

"Stargazing?"

An involuntary smile tugged at the corners of Asuna's mouth when Kazuto breath tickled her ear after he asked the question, reaching up to rub at the area of skin there and calm the giddy tingling. It was her second day at the hospital, second of two, as Asuna was due to be release the very next morning. Looking outside, she saw the gloomy clouds overshadowing the city the sprawled out from her view of the tenth floor window. Although the sky was overcast, today was supposed to be the last of a series of days exhibiting rather unsavory weather, something Asuna was grateful for; maybe the sun would be waiting for her when she left tomorrow.

"Yes," She answered to the boy sitting behind her after her slight pause. "I thought it might be a good idea."

Kazuto was sitting on a tall stool as Asuna faced away from him towards the window, pulling a small brush through her hair. Since that first time he'd opted to brush Asuna's hair for her, she'd found herself employing his services more and more often. There was something about having him run his fingers through her locks, and although the comb was the one doing most of the work, this was what Asuna focused most on. Kazuto was always gentle when brushing, never pulling to hard for fear of breaking any tightly coiled hairs. It made her feel cherished. Unfortunately, her enjoyment of this was often cut short by embarrassment, because at some points these situations had become rather intimate. Asuna didn't know how to handle intimate properly.

"Stargazing, huh..." Kazuto murmured, twirling a chestnut strand around his fingers. "Sounds nice. When would you like to go?"

Asuna perked up at Kazuto's consent and said, "Maybe on Friday, right after school? I'll be released by then, and have my strength back, plus we'll need time to prepare."

"Prepare?"

"I...I'd also like to camp out wherever we go," Asuna finally added, blushing at her own suggestion. The thought of sleeping close to Kazuto...

The boy behind her laughed and asked, "Why the sudden obsession with nature?"

Asuna took a moment to think before replying. "A lot's be going on lately," she said. "Rika and Keiko both want to spent more time with you alone, and that's alright, but I miss just being with you. Plus Takashi...I just want you to myself, and I wanted to do something special..."

The smooth strokes of the brush halted for a moment. "I understand," Kazuto said. "I've missed you, too."

Asuna smiled, and a comfortable silence lapses between them.

When it was broken, it was with a more delicate subject.

"About Takashi, though..." Asuna began, turning her head just a fraction to catch her boyfriend's attention.

"What happened to him?"

She didn't have to look to know that Kazuto was frowning. "Well..." He said uncertainly.

"He wasn't there when I was pulled out of the VR," She pressed, seeking answers in a manner similar to her mother's. "I remember. I was conscious for just a moment before blacking out, and he wasn't there. Where is he?"

When Kazuto didn't answer immediately, Asuna turned around fully to face him.

"Kazuto," She said seriously. "What happened to him?"

"Do you really need to know?" The boy sighed, pulling his hands out of her hair. "Do you really want revenge that badly?"

"This isn't a question of vengeance," Asuna shot back. "I'm just curious to know where he is. Isn't that a natural curiosity?"

Kazuto closed his eyes for a moment, obviously in deep thought. She remained silent, knowing it was best to let him think.

"I let him go," Kazuto said finally.

"What?"

"I let him go," He repeated, locking their eyes together. "The way he went about trying to make us pay for what we did was over extreme and crazy, but his motives were understandable. And I can't say this for sure, but I think he was mentally unstable. I hated the fact that he tried to hurt you, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to hurt him back. So I let him go."

Asuna blinked at the sudden revelation and asked, "So where'd he go?"

A shrug. "Somewhere," Kazuto answered vaguely. "We might meet again, or maybe not. That'll probably be up to him. But I made him promise not to try and hurt us again."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you know he'll uphold that?"

Kazuto breathed heavily out of his nose and reached out to stroke her face. "He had a breakdown once he realized his plans had failed. His mental stability, or what little of it was left, was shattered. From what I saw, he isn't capable of trying to come after us anymore. I know I could have brought him with me and gotten him some attention, but then I'd have to explain the circumstances behind our meeting and that would only convict him in the end. The best I could do for him was let him go.

"Besides," he continued, looking past Asuna to stare at the roiling clouds outside. "I love VR, but not the connections I've accumulated from it. It started out as a pure and simple hobby. Now it plagues our lives and endangers us in some cases. It's best to cut those things off."

Asuna smiled and leaned forward to bury her nose into the crook of his neck. "Okay. I understand," She said, making goosebumps rise on Kazuto's flesh when her lips moved against his skin. "Thank you for saving me."

They stayed like that for a moment, intertwined. Asuna felt like she could have stayed that way forever, but the moment was broken when Kazuto's phone buzzed.

Force to end their embrace, Kazuto irritably dug the device out of his pocket and answered it.

"Hello? Oh, hi mom. No. Really? Well, alright then. On my way." He keyed the phone off and told Asuna, "My mom wants me to go run some errands. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning, alright?"

"Alright," Asuna said, offering a small smile in farewell. Kazuto turned to leave, but she seized by a sudden need and called his name.

"Yes?" The boy asked, turning back to her.

Asuna stood up on her knees and held her arms out. Kazuto grinned and went in for a hug, but this was negated when she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted their lips together.

Kisses between them were relatively rare, as they weren't the most intimate of couples, their bond having been forged by endless hardship faced together. But this only meant that when their lips did meet, the sensation was spectacular. It made Asuna wish they could be more physically intimate every time they embraced in such a manner, but she'd always been too shy to ask for such a thing.

Kazuto sighed and allowed their lips to meld together, entranced as usual by the supple softness Asuna's mouth offered. His hands reached up to tangle in her freshly combed hair, using this technique to pull her head closer and deepen the kiss. It was a method he'd learned only recently, and though basic, he hadn't had much experience. So he learned when he could. Asuna breathed in sharply at the assertiveness of his actions, gripping his shoulders just a bit more tightly. Kazuto barely repressed a rather embarrassing groan when he observed this and tried to think straight, but failed rather miserably.

Afterwards came the point at which both of them always stumbled; when the kiss crossed the "simple" stage and turned heated. This was an atmosphere they'd only ventured into once or twice (they really were miserably inexperienced at kissing), and neither really had the ability to lead the other. As a result, this caused their lips to fumble for a just a moment, allowing their tongues to dart out and brush together.

Asuna squeaked at the contact and tightened her grip further, and for a moment Kazuto was afraid she would pull away. Sure, it had been an accident, but he'd wanted to know what it would be like...

She didn't recoil from him. Instead, she relaxed and let their tongues slide together, catching him off guard. Both of them had to suppress a gasp when their flexible tongues slid together and mixed saliva with saliva, still too shy to express their feelings in the heat of the moment. Eventually, the need for some air forced them to break apart, where they stood, panting slightly, blushing profusely as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I..." Asuna stuttered. She hadn't intended for this kiss to go so far, and now...

Kazuto just smiled. "Thanks for that," He said softly, and kissed her again, this time licking her bottom lip in a teasing manner. A half-gasp had just escaped Asuna's throat when the door was pulled open.

"Oh. Am I interrupting something?" The nurse asked blandly, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Asuna went beet red in the face. "H-Hitomi-chan!"

The aforementioned nurse chuckled at the girl's reaction and teased, "Really Asuna, I never thought you to be the type. Have you been at this behind my back for a while now?"

Asuna pulled her arms away from Kazuto and waved them around in front of her to deny this. "Of course not!"

Hitomi just shook her head in exasperation and proceeded to enter the room. "In any case, Asuna needs rest, so shoo, young man," She commanded sternly, although there was amusement hidden behind it.

"Ah...right. Of course," Kazuto agreed, who had done a better job of retaining his composure, although he was also blushing. "Bye, Asuna," He said, ruffling the girl's hair before the leaving the room as quickly as possible.

There was a moment of silence as Asuna engaged the nurse in a staring war, each trying to force the other to look away.

Asuna lost. Sighing, she fell back and plopped onto the bed. "That was so embarrassing," She groaned.

Hitomi genuinely laughed this time, the sound bringing a smile to Asuna's face. Hitomi had been the main nurse in charge of taking care of her after she'd been freed from the clutches of Kayaba Akihiko and Sogou, and the two girls had formed a solid friendship over time. Hitomi was a university student and had a few years of Asuna, but this hadn't stopped them from chatting endlessly when time allowed it and Kazuto was too busy to visit. The nurse would often bring things from her home to entertain her patient, feeling sympathetic because she knew how boring the hospital life could be sometimes.

This was one of those times. "Look, I brought some books for you to read!" She said cheerily, causing Asuna to perk up.

"Hooray!" The girl cheered, sitting back up to receive the volumes. Hitomi plopped them into her hands and she eagerly examined the covers; Asuna always loved reading the stories her friend brought for her.

This time, however, there was something off. Frowning, Asuna read the title a second and third time, trying to make sense of it all.

Hitomi was grinning at her when Asuna asked flatly, "Hitomi, why is the title _Fiery Conquest: Lover's Bite_?"

The nurse howled in laughter, but recovered quickly when Asuna glared at her. "Oh come, my child," She chided her, using her favorite nickname for her patient, as if three years really warranted her being called that. "You're a grown up woman now, you've got to be able to enjoy things like this."

"But this is _erotica,_" Asuna huffed, rapidly flipping through the pages in order to confirm this. "I know nothing about them. And it's embarrassing!"

"Exactly," Hitomi cut in. "You're too shy, Asuna. I swear, you can be incredibly stubborn and brave, but when it comes to intimacy you balk like a cat."

"It's not my fault," Asuna complained. "I never know what to do in those situations."

Hitomi reached over to tap a finger on the cover of the aforementioned volume. "So read, and learn. Sure, these kinds of stories are way over-exaggerated, but it'll at least give you some sort of awareness. You want to try these things with Kirigaya-san, don't you?"

Asuna blushed at the rather accurate guess and spluttered, "Why do you have these, anyway?"

"I'm a university student. Wait a few years and you'll see."

"That terrifies me."

"Read the book."

"But..."

"Look, I won't force you, but I think it'll help," Hitomi negotiated. She got up off the bed. "I have to go check on my other patients now, so I'll be leaving. Just give it a shot, okay?"

Once the nurse had left, Asuna frowned down at the small pile of books sitting on her lap. _It'll be the end of the world if Mother or Kazuto find this on my besides table,_ she thought. The books seemed to be staring back at her too, and she resolved not to read them.

But then Hitomi's words flashed through her. _You want to try these things with Kirigaya-san, don't you? _Then she remembered the awkward elements of the kiss she'd shared with him. Did she really need to read things like this to understand how to go about it properly? Wasn't practice enough? Although, Kazuto was obviously unsure of what to do as well, so it wasn't like practicing with him would help much.

Asuna blushed again when she imagined what "practicing" would look like, and forced herself to focus, namely on the books. Biting her lower lip, she allowed herself to use a finger to lift open the top cover and reveal the first page. Deciding to skip the introductions that all books had, she flipped to the fiftieth page and decided she would only read that. Then at least she could tell Hitomi that she'd tried.

Seeing as it was only the fiftieth page, Asuna wasn't expecting to see any sort of erotic content just yet, probably only minor kissing and such at most.

Her expectations were promptly swept aside when the first sentence of the fiftieth page read,

_Aika moaned loudly when he pushed her against the wall and nipped affectionately at the exposed skin of her neck, the cries becoming more intense in volume when he reached up to caress her-_

Asuna blushed so hard that her ears flamed when she read the words _sensitive mounds_ and slammed the book shut, pushing the entire pile away from her person. She stared at them for a few moments more before groaning in frustration and falling back to lay on the bed again. "I'm hopeless," She muttered to herself, turning to lay on her side and face the wall. "How am I supposed to do things with Kazuto...? Maybe I don't have to. Heck, I don't need to...well, maybe not, but I want to...does he want it too? Or is he just indulging me?"

Frowning now, she shut her eyes and imagined that Kazuto was there with her. That was how she'd gotten herself to sleep during the nights when she was restless, just envisioning his arms wrapped around her, the scent of him, his warm heart beating...

Only this time, due to her frame of mind, the vision took a totally different direction. For a moment, she could almost feel his teeth on her neck. But then she opened her eyes, too shy to continue her fantasies. Even to herself, this felt ridiculous. She was Yuuki Asuna! Shirking away from things was entirely out of character for her.

Then why the hell couldn't she think like this?

_Am I gay?_ She wondered briefly. Then she laughed.

The amusement faded quickly, however, when Asuna continued to wonder. _If I could just stop doubting, and asking questions..._she thought, closing her eyes again.

"_You're warm, Asuna,"_ She heard, and she _hmmed_ in response.

"_Do you...want me to touch you?"_ Kazuto's voice asked, and she nodded meekly, almost forcing herself to make the movement. Almost unconsciously, her hand traveled downwards to her knee and traced a thin line up her leg, her breathing becoming more erratic when Asuna's overactive imagination took over completely.

Asuna's fingers had just completed the journey up her thighs and reached the all-important regions when the door opened.

"By the way, I forgot-" Hitomi began, but she was cut off when Asuna shrieked.

"AHHH!"

* * *

The night air was cool against his skin when they reached the top of the hill.

"It's fortunate that the weather's so clear today," Asuna said when she climbed up to join him. They were standing on the crest of the largest hill Kazuto knew of that was within commuting distance, situated at the very outskirts of the city, and surrounded by woods and wildlife. It fit perfectly with what Asuna had dreamed of, and it brought a smile to her face.

"Yeah," Kazuto puffed as he set his pack down; he'd been forced to lug it all the way up. It contained a folded tent and a basket holding pre-made food by Asuna. Asuna herself was carrying the two sleeping bags, and they set their things down before standing to appreciate the stars winking into existence above them.

"Don't do anything naughty," Kazuto's mother had warned him teasingly just before he'd left. Kazuto had rolled his eyes and left with a promise not to do such a thing. Asuna had received a similar warning from her own parents and had responded accordingly, despite her intentions.

Asuna sat leaning back on her hands, staring at the heavens while Kazuto began setting up the tent. She'd offered to help, but he'd grunted that this was a man's duty.

_Men and their egos._

As the night progressed, more and more stars began to appear. The city they lived in was relatively pollution-free thanks so some innovations made by the ecologists in the region, and this advocated stargazing. Asuna could recognize star patterns and constellations, or _saiza,_ that she hadn't seen since she was eight years old and her parents had taken _her_ stargazing. It made her happy to see it.

"Got it!" Kazuto shouted from behind her, and she turned to see that he had been successful in setting up the tent. It made her laugh to see how triumphant he was.

"Good job," She clapped. "Now, come join me."

Kazuto smiled and joined her, laying down on the grass so that he could properly appreciate the view the stars offered. Asuna laid down next to him and cuddled into his side, and they watched the stars for a while, exchanging conversation now and then.

It felt perfect.

Finally, the night became too cold to tolerate and Kazuto urged Asuna to retreat to the tent. She consented, and they got up and entered the small structure. After sharing the food Asuna had prepared herself, with the usual satisfying results, they decided to retire when it was almost midnight.

"This feels a bit like deja vu," Kazuto said when they slipped into their respective sleeping bags and turned to face each other. "I remember being in a position like this in Aincrad."

Asuna frowned. "I don't remember that. Who with?"

"Rika," He replied. "When we went to find minerals for my Elucidator."

"I see..." Asuna said, obviously put off by this information.

Kazuto laughed and reached out to grasp his girlfriend's hand. "Don't you worry, I plan to keep you around for a while," He teased, and she laughed.

With that, they closed the night.

* * *

**As always, thanks a ton for reading, and review if you have anything to say ^_^**


	7. Passing the Time

Chapter 7: Passing the Time

"Do you want to go, then?"

Kazuto heard her voice to his left, but did not turn to see Asuna complete the sound; or rather, he could not. He _knew,_ somehow, that she was there, but the need to look and confirm this had been prohibited. Instead, he flicked his gaze at what was sitting before him, although what he saw, Kazuto could not clearly specify. Instead, the only clear reception was the impression that there was something long and shrouded ahead, something not easily penetrated or approached.

"Not sure," He murmured softly, and he felt that Asuna rustled briefly at his side at this.

"We'll have to go sometime," She said, sounding more disappointed than angry. "We can't stay here forever."

Instead of answering immediately, Kazuto stared back at the unclear entity waiting for them ahead. He really couldn't see past it. It confused him, and his eyes hurt. Closing them, Kazuto tried to sort his thoughts.

"I think I don't know how," He replied softly.

This time, Asuna did not say anything. Instead, she sighed and leaned against him; or at least he thought she had, there was no way for him to confirm this.

The world closed around them.

When it opened again, Kazuto was awake.

Blinking briefly to gain his bearings, he glanced around to affirm his location. He was still laying in his sleeping bag in the tent on the hill, and the cool air filtering through the minute gap in the zipper indicated that it was early morning. He was about to sit up and let the blood rush down from his brain when his nose became buried in something soft.

Kazuto only had to inhale once to identify it. Focusing his view on what was before him, he realized that over the course of the night Asuna must have left her sleeping bag to join him in his. He'd fallen asleep facing away from her, but when he'd turned to get up he'd discovered her. Smiling involuntarily, Kazuto watched her eyelids flutter gently as she journeyed through the endless plains of slumber. She slept in a way highly reminiscent of that day under the tree in the great plain of grass in Aincrad, when Kazuto had awoken himself to find an angel sleeping by his side. Even now Asuna's fists lay gently curled at her chest, and her chestnut hair fanned out behind her to frame the countenance which had captivated him for years on end without retribution. Even now she looked fragile, gentle, something to be cherished. Even now, his heart throbbed when he watched her.

Asuna murmured something incoherent in her sleep and shifted slightly to adjust her position. The movement, however minute, broke the small moment of reverence and brought Kazuto's attention back to the matter at hand.

Smile fading, he let the memories of his dream return to his consciousness. Despite his natural denial, Kazuto knew very well what it's meaning had been; he was unsure about his future, and Asuna's, as well as how it would play out. He harbored no doubts about the strength of their bond, however. No, instead he wondered about the circumstances the future would bring, and how it would effect said bond. It was now the height of January, and in a relatively small amount of months they would be off to college. While there was always the possibility that one or both of them would end up as _ronin _(those who failed the examinations and had to wait another year to make a second attempt), but such an outcome was, Kazuto felt, rather unlikely.

Due to their extraordinary circumstances involving the SAO incident, the surviving six thousand players had been given additional time to study for the entrance exams. This, unfortunately, was still a paltry window of time, and Kazuto and Asuna had barely been able to cover what they'd missed to take the exams. Now all there was to do was wait; both of them had applied for the University of Tokyo, the school Kazuto had always dreamed of going to. Asuna herself claimed that she had a great interest in the university's humanitarian fields. Kazuto just hoped it wasn't for him. Not that the actual education was pivotal for their futures, seeing as college education was not as vital in Japan as countries like the United States. _Ronin_ were also rather common these days.

_Then what happens after college?_ Kazuto continued to muse as he wormed a hand out from under the sleeping bag to brush a strand of hair out of Asuna's eyes before pulling her closer to him. _Assuming we're still together then, what happens? After five years of dating...will we proceed to something more?_

Forcing himself to stop the wondering, Kazuto actually shook his head.

_Too many uncertainties. Too many questions._

Within the span of a year, Kayaba Akihiko had been defeated, he had saved Asuna, they'd been released from the hospital, and the memorial had passed. Takashi had made his attempt at vengeance, and the rift between himself and Mrs. Yuuki was just beginning to knit back together. Yet despite all this, regardless of the progress made, Kazuto's image of his relationship with Asuna was that of two defiant young adults facing the world together, supporting each other, and keeping each other from falling under the pressure the world pushed them all with. Companions, equals, lovers. Kazuto was the sort of person who disliked change; he tried his best to maintain his surroundings as far as he could. Even his quick adaptation to the rules and circumstances in Aincrad had been a sort of facade, coupled with his superior experience in VRG.

So now, as he lay watching the love of his life sleep, Kazuto wondered how their relationship would evolve and change, for better or worse, as the passage of time continued its work. Would they grow inseparable? Independent of each other? There really was no way to say. He had this sort of mental block that prevented him from knowing for sure what the two of them would be like years down the line. The way he and Asuna were now, it felt perfect, the scent of her, her warm body pressed against his...was there anything greater than this? Would the future bring it? Kazuto sighed and held Asuna a little more tighter against his chest, trying to banish the speculations.

He shouldn't be thinking such things, in any case. Asuna was here, now, and they were together here and now. Kazuto had told as much to Asuna that one day under the tree, and this was an opportunity to exercise that mantra.

He must have been too forceful, though, because Asuna shifted against him. Kazuto had to suppress a laugh when her face took the same clueless expression it always did when she woke up. Eyes drooped halfway closed and her lips jutted out in a lazy pout, she lifted her head an inch and look around herself before seeing Kazuto.

"Morning," He said softly, reaching forward to plant a kiss on her forehead. Asuna's eyes fluttered at the gesture of adoration and buried her face into his chest, fists lightly gripping the fabric of his shirt to hide from the world for just a bit longer. Kazuto allowed this for a few more minutes before he shook her gently and said, "Come on, it's time to wake up."

Sighing, Asuna opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up in the sleeping bag their shared; it was a good thing it was big, seeing as it had had to fit two bodies inside of it. While she was blinking the rest of the sleep from her eyes, Kazuto crawled over to the zipper of the tent and yanked it open, squinting severely when the sun lanced through the new opening to illuminate the entire interior. The rays of light had been somewhat diluted by the fabric of the tent's walls, but now it flooded in and lit up everything. Asuna trotted along on her knees to join him at the entrance and sat there, leaning her head on his shoulder. They watched the clouds together for a little while, and it was so quiet that the slight breeze of the dawn could be heard among the grass.

"The stars were beautiful last night," Asuna spoke finally, her voice just a bit hoarse. Kazuto _hmmed_ in response.

"They're always so constant," She continued. "And always so pretty. Do you think we can be like that?"

The question caught Kazuto slightly off guard, and he took his time answering. "You're prettier than the stars," He said simply then, and Asuna laughed at the obvious evasion.

"Not as smart as you act, eh?" She chuckled, poking her companion on the cheek in a teasing manner.

"I'm still smarter though," Kazuto scoffed in mock defiance, and Asuna snorted and crossed her arms, although inside her heart laughed in joy. Here, atop this grassy hill, she felt farther from the ties of reality and closer to Kazuto than ever.

_Things may change,_ She thought as the clouds continued their endless odyssey across the sky.

_But we'll face it together._

* * *

After that night, time seemed to slip by a little more quickly. Their encounter with Takashi was a sort of turning point, an event to end any last affiliations with SAO that could come back to haunt them. Like something to tie up the loose ends the memorial had left behind. It also meant that the daily demands of life were more steadfast than ever, and before either of them knew it it had consumed them entirely.

By the time January had passed and February had broken over the horizon, VR was the farthest thing from their minds, even though their restrictions of accessing the technology for it were beginning to ease. By June, they would be sufficiently recovered enough to begin using Full-Dive specs once more. Although visiting the virtual reality brought a sort of bitter taste to Kazuto's mouth now, he wanted to go back, if not to visit his in-game daughter Yui. It made him depressed to think of the small young girl flitting through Aincrad without much purpose, seeing as none of the players were present. She was also much more advanced than the other AI in the game, so she really wouldn't fit in anywhere. It was hideous to think about. Despite the cold hard fact that Yui was computer-generated, he and Asuna had always considered her to be their first true daughter.

Kazuto's seventeenth birthday came and went during this time, well into the depths of October. It had been celebrated with appropriate accord, along with a teasing note about birthday sex from Klein. And, of course, good-natured jabs from his elders reminding him that he was only a year away from being able to marry now. And although Asuna's name was not directly mentioned, her very spirit seemed to float in the air when they said that. While it wasn't a particularly detestable thing to wonder about (in fact, it made him smile), Kazuto still wasn't sure about things like that. Not the future, and what it could bring.

He was practicing his kendo strokes at home one morning when his phone buzzed on the wooden porch connecting the house to the traditional garden outside. Taking a brief respite from his exertions, Kazuto walked over and checked the device.

_Yo!_ It was from Klein. _Birthday's next week, but trip's coming up in two days...anyone up to hang?_

A cursory glance told Kazuto that the message had also been sent to Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, and Agil (who he had recently learned was named Andrew in reality, it had completely slipped his mind). So he was trying to gather everyone before he had to leave. Klein had a massive business trip approaching rather quickly, one that would take him from his home for at least several months. It was a great opportunity for him to advance his career and take leaps forward in the business world, so Klein had jumped at the opportunity immediately. Another look told him that the location was at Agil's bar in the middle of the afternoon.

A smile tugged at Kazuto's lips. _Another Offline meeting, eh...?_

* * *

As usual, the bells tacked to the side of the wooden door jingled gently when Kazuto pushed it open and entered the premises. He and his friends had all given Klein their birthday gifts beforehand due to the trip, so there would be no presents today; however, they had yet to celebrate his birthday at a specific time and place. It felt right to do this.

Lisbeth was already there when he walked over to the bar and sat down. She was conversing rather animatedly with Agil, who was polishing to usual glass as he spoke with the younger girl.

"Hey," Kazuto greeted as he slid into the bar. Agil nodded at him in response and Lisbeth broke off her conversation to turn and face him.

"We were just talking about college," She explained. "It's hard to believe that we'll be off in just a few months, isn't it?"

Inwardly, Kazuto sighed in exasperation. Everyone was obsessed with college these days. "Have you considered any universities yet?"

"Well there's this really prestigious one in Nagasaki that excels in the crafts, but I'm not entirely sure yet," Lisbeth said uncertainly, smiling apologetically. "How about you? Tokyo, I assume? It would suit your hobbies."

"Dead on, assuming I'm admitted," Kazuto praised her. "Computer and software programming."

"And Asuna?"

"She's going for some sort of humanitarian field. Not entirely sure yet either, but she says she'd also like to go to the University of Tokyo."

Lisbeth laughed out loud at that, and Agil also raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So you'll even go to college together, eh? I knew you two would be inseparable no matter what, but I never expected something like that."

"Well in any case, we've still got some time to think about it," Kazuto said, rolling his eyes at the expected reaction.

Lisbeth smiled again, but more softly this time. "If the two of you do end up going to Tokyo together, it'll probably be without the rest of us, huh?"

Kazuto paused to mull that over for a moment. He hated to admit it, but it did make sense. It was highly unlikely that all three of them would end up attending the same university. So would his friendship with the former blacksmith begin to deteriorate? Despite the romantic affections the girl had expressed to him in the past, as well as the complications they had caused, Kazuto still valued their relationship highly. She was like a balancing factor to Asuna, and was able to deliver a refreshing change in perspective every now and then. They were also companions, in the way he and Asuna were companions, just different.

"Probably," He conceded at last.

Lisbeth sighed and went back to staring at the smoothly polished wood of the bar. Agil had sensed the change of sensitivity of the subject and had excused himself to the other side of the bar, quietly scrubbing at his glass.

"Anyways, if that's the case, you need to promise me something."

Kazuto blinked and look at her.

Lisbeth stared back with two eyes that burned with a flame he'd never really seen before.

"You...you need to take care of Asuna," She said, eyes narrowing to emphasize her point."

"I will."

"You need to protect her always," Lisbeth persisted. "Be by her side always. Don't let anyone or anything hurt her. I won't be there anymore to watch over her with you, so it'll all be up to you, Kazuto. Take care of her. Promise me...promise that you'll always love her."

Kazuto's forehead wrinkled at the stacked demand, finally turning his entire body to face his friend.

"Those are some lofty requests," He said, mostly as a way to buy time for a better response.

"It's your responsibility," Lisbeth insisted.

Kazuto smiled. "I guess that's true. Don't worry, Lisbeth. You won't have to worry about her."

Lisbeth nodded. "Thanks, Kazu-kun."

Deciding to try and lighten the mood, Kazuto joked, "If that's my job, then it'll be your job to look after Silica, am I right?"

Lisbeth seemed rather alarmed at this revelation and said, "What! But she's-"

Kazuto laughed and held his hands up. "Kidding...but she'll be lonely, wouldn't she? Once we're all gone." Strangely, he thought, Silica's situation reminded him of Yui's.

The former blacksmith blew the bangs out of her eyes and said tersely, "Maybe, but she has her own group of friends. She's friendly and kind to people, and she attracts boys like the plague. There's a reason why so many people tried to marry her in-game, you know."

"Mmm." That was true. It had been rather unnerving, really, to watch grown men make such propositions to a fourteen year old girl. Thinking back on Silica's clumsiness, both in SAO and out of it, brought an involuntarily chuckle out of him. Maybe she would be fine, after all.

"I think we'll all be fine, frankly," Lisbeth said suddenly, reaching over the bar to pour herself a glass of cider before leaving the appropriate compensation on the wooden interior of the bar. "Surely, we'll miss each other, but we'll never grow apart, right? Not after everything we've gone through together. You can't break something like that so easily. I think, Kazuto, that after we've gone through college and we've all grown up into adults, we'll still be close."

The rest of their friends came soon after that, with Klein making the biggest (and loudest) entrance, as usual. As Agil returned to rejoin the exponentially larger conversation, and the drinks began to be passed around, Kazuto shut it all out for a minute to reflect. Looking up, he stared at his friends all laughing and enjoying each other's company. Despite the challenges and questions they all faced, smiles dominated their expressions. Lisbeth was screaming something rude at Klein for making an offhand comment about her body, and Asuna was laughing at her friend's obvious agitation. Agil laughed along with Klein at the joke, and Silica was whispering something offensive about her senpais to Suguha, who had actually deigned to come and join them. It felt like one big happy family.

_Family,_ Kazuto thought as he smiled along with them and re-immersed himself into the flow of the conversation.

_Family never separates, right?_

* * *

"Your older brother?"

"Yeah!" Asuna said, almost jumping around in excitement. "He's finally coming back!"

"Where has he been?" Kazuto asked rather sheepishly as he took his seat next to Asuna in the classroom. It shamed him to admit it, but he had never gone out of his way to learn more about Asuna's older brother. Kazuto was well aware of his existence and the fact that he wasn't around, but beyond that his knowledge petered out to nothing.

"He's been on a business trip, as usual," Asuna explained in exasperation. "That's why I put on the NerveGear for the first time, remember? He had a sudden trip and couldn't play SAO when it was released, so I tried it out.

"In any case, he's came back from his trip years ago to find me asleep, and my parents have told me that he was very devastated. Ever since then he's been taking on trip after trip, almost as if he was trying to distance himself from home as far as possible." She said the last words with regret in her tone, staring down at the tiled floor. "But when he heard that all the players had been saved, he decided that it was time to come home. So once his current trip ends, he'll be back."

"When is that?" Kazuto asked, now genuinely curious.

"In four days," Asuna informed him. "I haven't seen my brother in two years," She whispered then, her fists clenched tightly in her lap. "It's been so long. I wonder if he's grown? Have I grown? Will he tell me how much bigger I've gotten? What do you think, Kazuto?"

Kazuto smiled and ruffled the girl's hair. "I don't think it'll matter, really. As long as the two of you get to see each other again, words shouldn't be very necessary."

Asuna nodded firmly at this and sat up a big straighter. "Right!" Then she seemed to remember something. "And you need to make a good impression as well," Asuna threatened suddenly. "He'll be staying until our high school graduation, so this isn't a hit and quit thing. So be good, alright?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Kazuto asked, "Why is your brother not fond of me?"

A flush suddenly dominated Asuna's face and she admitted, "Well...he doesn't really know you exist."

"Ah," Kazuto said dumbly. So Asuna's brother didn't even know about him? He wasn't sure if this boded well or ill for him. If he followed the stereotypical format, the older brother would return home from a long journey to find that his _emoto_ had found someone she cared for, and the typical "big brother intimidation" would ensue. Kazuto already knew that Asuna's brother was in his mid twenties already, so this probably wouldn't be too hard on the giving end.

"In any case, you've been invited to have dinner with us a few days after he gets here," Asuna said quickly, as if rushing through the information would make it trivial.

Kazuto blinked dumbly. "_What_?"

"Oh come now, don't be like that," Asuna reassured him. "It'll be fun."

"But..." Kazuto began, at a loss for words. "...we're gonna _eat..._at a _table_ with the whole _family._"

"Don't forget my brother."

"That is exactly my point."

"Think about it this way," Asuna negotiated as the morning bell rang. "This is a chance to get on better terms with Mother, right? Because I doubt it'll be beneficial if my brother comes home and realizes that his mother dislikes you."

Sighing, Kazuto closed his eyes. He couldn't really argue with that.

"Alright, then..."

* * *

**I must apologize for the rather paltry filler, but I needed to show the passage of time for the world around Kazuto and Asuna (hence, the title of the chapter). Soon, their circumstances and possibilities will evolve beyond what the anime and manga have established into territory more fit for true adults. So when this does happen, please do not make comments about them being OOC, because this is about the journey they take over time.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Review~**


	8. Making Progress

**Sorry if this one feels a bit all over the place, I'm trying to establish a couple things.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Making Progress

A twitch of the eyebrow.

Then another, as the amount of psychological exertion Asuna had to put into preventing herself from screaming climbed to catastrophic levels. Her lower eyelid joined the eyebrow to twitch with it in unison, the only sign of the rising pressure growing exponentially in her chest. She just needed to keep calm, keep calm, keep-

"So, which one do you like?" Hitomi asked expectantly.

"NONE OF THEM!" Asuna screeched, drawing the attention of every single person in the store. The cashier drilled holes at her for causing a disturbance, but Asuna glared back, so the employee _hmphed_ and hid behind her newspaper.

"Oh, come on," Hitomi humphed, flipping her dark brown hair behind her back in exasperation. "There must be _something_ you have an interest in."

"None at all," Asuna insisted.

"My, my," The nurse tutted, shaking her head as if scolding a toddler. "My child, you really are a goody-two-shoes, aren't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Asuna asked pensively, not sure if it was a very wise decision to allow her friend to answer that question.

Hitomi threw an arm around her friend's shoulders and swept the other in a wide arc, demonstrating the general expanse of the store. "You're too afraid to wear _lingerie,_" She said, making sure to put extra emphasis on the word to punctuate her point.

The two of them were currently standing in the dead center of Japan's most popular lingerie store, or so Hitomi claimed. Asuna hadn't even been aware that there were stores which specialized in selling that sort of thing, and in hindsight it still sounded ridiculous to her. But here she was, trapped, standing between row upon row upon row of nothing but the accursed undergarments. It was really starting to give her a headache. The nurse had called her up for a supposed shopping date to the local mall, something Asuna had been surprised to hear, seeing as most college students would be embarrassed to be seen toting a high school senior around. But Hitomi apparently did not care, so she'd gone along with it rather happily.

Asuna could tell something was afoot, however, when Hitomi took a route that she'd never seen before. And by the time she realized what her schemes were, she'd already been dragged into the store. Now here Asuna was, trying (unsuccessfully) to explain to Hitomi why she did not want to wear any lingerie and did not plan on doing so in the future.

"But why not?" The nurse asked for the millionth time, crossing her arms in stubbornness. Asuna had to roll her eyes at that; sometimes she felt like the older one.

"Because I don't _need_ to," She explained also for the millionth time, just barely keeping her patience in check. "It's not like people go outside and walk around in nothing but their underwear, and since that's the case, what's the point in lingerie?"

"It's for _self confidence,_" Hitomi stressed, reaching out to clap Asuna on the shoulder, who shirked away in fear. "Not for looks, unless you're into that kind of thing. And besides," She added, leaning in to whisper into the younger girl's ear, "It might come in handy with a _certain someone,_ am I right?"

"YOU'RE WRONG!" Asuna shouted again, going completely red in the face. The cashier did a one-eighty in her spinning stool to turn and glare bullets through her head this time, but Asuna still glared back, so the lady just showed her teeth before returning to her newspaper.

"Am I?" Hitomi asked her airily, taking advantage of her greater height and heels to loom over her like an ominous shadow. "I would beg to differ, my child. You seemed quite mature enough for the job when I walked in on you two at the hospital."

"That's not even close to the implications you're making!" Asuna hissed back.

Hitomi rolled her eyes and turned away from her, beginning to proceed deeper into the store, towards the back. An arching finger was the only sign the nurse gave that she wished for Asuna to follow her, and for a moment the younger girl considered bolting, but decided against it. That would only result in more severe torture down the line. Might as well get this over with...

_And if I even somehow leave this establishment with a set of lingerie in my hands, it won't be thanks to my money._

Huffing, Asuna followed Hitomi to the back end of the store and stood by her side while the nurse began pondering at a row of products, apparently deep in thought. Asuna let her mind wander while she waited, more than happy to keep herself from falling into staring at the underwear with her, until the nurse spoke at last.

"Can you imagine being with anyone else besides Kazuto, Asuna?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me," Hitomi said patiently, still not breaking her gaze from the lingerie.

Frowning, she gave it a moment's thought. "Well, no, not really. I've had a couple boyfriends before him, but he's by far the best I've ever had...no, I can't really see anyone else but him. Why do you ask?"

"Well, if you hope to be with him forever, or at least several more years, you're going to enter full-fledged adulthood during that time," Hitomi explained, widening her cobalt-blue eyes for emphasis. Biting her lip, the older girl seemed to actually think before she spoke for once. "What I'm saying is, age brings opportunity, some of which you should embrace, and others you shouldn't. To me, the physical side of a healthy relationship is something that should be established once both parties are mentally and bodily mature, which is part of the reason I brought you here. I will confess that it was mostly to tease you, but it's also true that it will be very difficult to avoid the progress of your intimacy with Kazuto for very long without damaging the relationship. After all, Kazuto's a guy. A nice guy, sure, but ever man has his urges."

"Women too," Asuna mumbled, staring off to the side.

"My point exactly. So go and try a couple of these on, would you?"

Asuna looked down at the small pile of undergarments being held out to her, and felt her mind lock. Was she seriously considering this?

Sighing, she reached out and took the clothes from Hitomi's hands.

"Fine. But you're paying."

The nurse squealed and ushered her towards the changing rooms.

* * *

"Just do it, Asuna," Kazuto sighed in an exasperated manner.

"I can't! I'm scared," His girlfriend whispered back meekly, her knuckles nearly whitening as her fingers tightened their grip. A loose strand of hair had managed to work its way loose from her flowing locks and hung in front of her face, almost like a limp _ahoge,_ something that would have made him laugh in any other situation. But the atmosphere now was tense, heated, serious.

"You'll have to get used to it sooner or later, you know," He pointed out, going for a last-ditch effort for a logical conclusion to Asuna's indecision. "It's a part of growing up, you can't avoid it forever."

Asuna licked her lips and readjusted her grip for what felt like the thousandth time. "But...but...It's too _hard,_" She finally hissed out, moving her head to glare at him.

Snorting, Kazuto adjusted his position in the seat and said, "Just...start gently. Nothing too abrupt, or it'll all go wrong like the last time. Without rushing, just push down nice and slow...right, like that," Kazuto said, sighing in relief as they began to move at last. Finally, all that waiting was over. Asuna began to smile tentatively as she began to gain some sort of confidence in her movements. Feeling a certain measure of satisfaction blossom within him upon seeing the success of his persuasion, Kazuto reached over and gave her a little pat on the head for her efforts.

His satisfaction diminished a certain measure, however, when Asuna began to pick up speed. Unbidden, an amount of dread began to fill him up inside. The last time Asuna had tried to go at this velocity, it had resulted in a rather unsavory course of events...

"Asuna," Kazuto breathed, trying to get his mate's attention.

"...mmm?" She mumbled back, eyes focused on the task at hand.

A flash of light at the corner of his eye. Something bolting across the street at blinding speed, but not fast enough to avoid the incoming collision-

"Hit the brakes!"

There was a resounding _screech_ as Asuna's foot immediately impacted with the brake pedal of the car, cutting short the energy allowing the tires to spin and forcing them down to an abrupt halt. Both of their necks were hurdled forward by the residual force of their movement, skulls just barely refraining from making contact with the unforgiving glass of the front windshield. Asuna squealed an lowered her head, hiding her forehead behind the top curve of the steering wheel, and there she stayed, desperately trying to regain even a grain of her composure. Kazuto shot his head up and saw the small cat complete its run across the street, where it licked itself before running into the cover of the bushes.

Exhaling heavily out of his nose, Kazuto recovered much more quickly from the scare and sat back in his seat on the passenger's side of the vehicle, turning to stare out of the window and give Asuna time to regather herself. It was ridiculous really. The girl was in the top five out of ten thousand players in a reflex-based death game, but she couldn't operate a simple gas-powered four wheeled vehicle. Asuna had come to him with more than enough embarrassment at having to ask her boyfriend to teach her how to properly operate a car, seeing as her family had already given up on the idea. "Just go to a college with lots of bike paths," Shouzou had advised her.

Kazuto, unfortunately, had taken on that responsibility without much knowledge on the specifics of past failures. Sure, he was aware than Asuna had yet to obtain her license, (he'd gotten his a few months after the SAO incident) but he'd always figured it was a byproduct of poor mentoring rather than an acute inability. But Kazuto had, of course, been flatly proven wrong after their first session, during which Asuna had slammed the brakes out of fear five times and failed to breach a speed of twenty miles per hour.

"It doesn't make any sense," He'd groaned afterwards. "Your reflexes are plenty good! Why are you so afraid to drive a car?"

"It's not my fault!" Asuna had retorted vehemently, crossing her arms in defiance. "It's just this mental block I have, like I'm going to make a mistake somehow. Don't tell me you didn't have the same problem!"

"Well...no, I didn't."

"Shut up, Kazuto."

"Okay."

Asuna was still keeping her head ducked under the wheel, trying to hide from the world. Kazuto poked her in the side and prompted her, but the girl just groaned in frustration and tried to ignore it all.

"Asuna," Kazuto sighed in exasperation, "Get up. We'll go at it again."

Silence.

Frowning, he sat back and tried to look at the situation from a wider angle. It was always difficult to deal with Asuna when she got like this. She was usually a very optimistic and hopeful person at heart, but when she grew overly frustrated with something it was nigh impossible to break her out of her funk. This would require precise, careful planning. But what to do? The only way he could think of right now was-

Kazuto's train of thought derailed for a moment to be replaced by a slow, steady grin that spread across his face and gave him an almost maniacal look. Ah, yes. Of course. _That_ method.

"Asuna..." He repeated, leaning over to bring himself closer to the girl's ear, only this time he changed his tone of voice. Deeper, more seriously, more _huskily_ this time, making sure that his breath would just barely reach out far enough to tickle Asuna's ear.

It went exactly as planned. Asuna's ears literally perked up at the sound of his voice and she lifted her head in inquiry, letting out a brief, "Yes?"

"I'll make an offer for you," Kazuto elaborated, reaching out to press a hand to the back of Asuna's head and pulled her face closer to his. "Something quite simple really...an uncomplicated transaction."

"C-Care to explain?" Asuna replied, just barely hiding the stutter, but not well enough for it to slip past Kazuto's attention. She could feel his fingers tangling lovingly between the strands of her hair, exerting just enough force to tug at the silky locks hard enough to send tingles through her skull. His lidded eyes that stared almost hungrily not at her own eyes, but the region below them. But it was always his scent that got her, the smell of crushed peppermint mixed with something that was unidentifiable, but was still distinctly Kazuto.

"Give it your best shot," Her boyfriend whispered to her, "And I'll..._reward_ you."

Kazuto punctuated this with a quick lick of his tongue at her lower lip before pulling away, drawing an involuntary whimper from Asuna's throat. She was about to ask him to _please_ come back and finished what he'd started, but remembered what Kazuto had just said and sighed, turning back to the wheel.

_Well, at least there's proper incentive now._

A week and a half later, Kazuto was sitting in his room working on a computer algorithm when his phone buzzed.

"Hello?"

"I passed the test."

Another slow grin. "See, I knew you could do it."

An agitated huff came at him from the other end of the line. "Sure, but I'm not very happy about how I went about it."

"And why is that?"

He could feel the heat from Asuna's face through the phone. "We spent most of our time _kissing_ instead of learning how to drive!"

Kazuto snorted and leaning back in his chair, observing the codes scampering across his screen. "If I recall properly, the _kissing_ was excellent for motivating you to learn. Am I wrong? Or do you think you could have done it without my incentive?"

There was a silence at the other end of the line that for a moment he thought Asuna had hung up. But then she muttered, "Thanks," Before cutting the connection.

_Tsunderes..._

* * *

_Welcome to hell,_ Kazuto thought when he saw the front door of the Yuuki residence.

Well, alright, perhaps he was exaggerating. Surely a dinner with the Yuuki family brought its fair share of headaches, but it was certainly far from deserving of the description _hell._ More like medieval Europe. In any case, he was currently standing in front of the polished wooden door dressed in the spiffiest manner he could come up with. And while Kazuto had every intention of knocking on said door and entering (assuming he was admitted) part of him still wanted to turn on his heel and walk back home.

Briefly, Kazuto hypothesized on what Asuna's elder brother would be like. Probably tall, as Asuna and her father were, although this might not be the case considering the mother's petite stature. Piercing, intelligent eyes, to be sure. The entire family had them, even Asuna, although there was a certain softness there to hide the cunning intelligence she harbored within. Kazuto's most prominent dilemma, however, centered around his ability to make a good impression. From all the stereotypes and overexaggerated claims he'd gathered, a disapproving older brother could be a serious pitfall in any relationship. Not that he put much weight in those reality TV shows, but some of it made sense, at least.

_Well, nothing risked, nothing gained, I suppose,_ Kazuto thought, reaching up to knock solidly on the wooden door.

Nobody came to open it immediately, as Kazuto hoped they would, because the waiting was going to kill him and he knew it. He was forced to wait nevertheless, and it took so long that he was startled when the door actually did open.

"Hi, Asu-"

He was forced to chop off the last syllable when his eyes focused on someone who was definitely _not_ Asuna. The man was tall, with a good five inches on Kazuto, with broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist and long, athletic looking legs. He was dressed in a pair of black dress pants and a simple shirt that was rolled up to the elbows, and he stood there now, holding the door open, smiling amiably at him.

"Ah, welcome. You must be Kazuto."

Kazuto just barely recovered quickly enough to avoid saying "Huh...wha...?" and managed to blurt out, "Thank you very much. Are you Asuna's brother?"

He nodded to confirm this. "Yes, I am. I've heard plenty about you from my sister, and I have been wishing to meet you face-to-face for quite some time now, but my work did not permit it. I am here now, however, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Ah...I'm honored," Kazuto murmured as he accepted the older man's offer to shake hands, surprised at how strong his grip was.

"Well, it is quite rude for me to have the guest stand outside for so long, so please do come in," Asuna's brother invited, ushering Kazuto inside. Once the door was closed, he walked halfway up the stairs and called, "Asuna, he's here."

"Eh!?" Came the chagrined groan from above. "But I'm not ready yet!"

"You've been up there for a solid hour!"

"So what!"

The elder brother shook his head in affection and turned back to address Kazuto. "You should be flattered; my sister rarely cares what others think of her appearance," He chuckled, and Kazuto smiled slightly along with him.

"Ah," The older man blinked suddenly. "And also to add, my name is Hideki Yuuki. Dinner will be starting soon, but until then, I think you should go check on my sister. She seems quite disgruntled, from what I heard."

"Thank you," Kazuto said politely, and Hideki smiled again before leaving the hall.

Kazuto stared at the man's back as it retreated and thought, _I have no idea what to think of him._

* * *

Kazuto had never really developed a habit of knocking on doors before he entered them, seeing as he had never spent any significant amount of time at another's home before Sword Art Online. While such a habit usually did not have any negative effects on Kazuto's life, they could occasionally lead to some rather embarrassing situations where he would walk in on something he was not meant to see.

This was to be one of those times, although if Kazuto was asked whether he would have knocked if he'd known what would take place, he probably would have been conflicted at what to say. In any case, he pushed open the door the moment he reached it and sang out, "Asu-"

For the second time that night, Kazuto was cut off before he could finish the name when someone screamed at the other side of the room and launched a hard pillow into his face, the force of the impact throwing his body back out of the door. Before Kazuto was evicted, however, he caught sight of Asuna crouching on her bed, virtually naked, save for a set of lingerie clinging to her body and hiding all the important parts.

Wait...what?

He lacked the opportunity to dwell on that, however, because his head had impacted with the floor back now and the door had been thrown shut.

Meanwhile, Asuna stared at the door she'd just kicked closed for a moment before screaming at herself and slapping a palm to her forehead. She _knew_ she should have locked the door...why hadn't she? More lack of thinking on her part. Sighing, Asuna crossed back to the mirror sitting opposite her bed and went back to staring at herself, momentarily forgetting about the boy she'd thrown out of the door only recently. Frowning in thought, she reached up to tug at the waistband of the lingerie. Was she really going to wear it? It would be a waste not to, not to mention an insult to Hitomi, but she just didn't know...

_And now Kazuto probably knows I own lingerie,_ Asuna thought in agony.

She looked herself over one last time.

_Well, nothing risked, nothing gained..._

Kazuto was sitting cross legged on the floor outside Asuna's room, waiting patiently so that when she did come out (if ever) he would be prepared to offer a proper apology.

At last, the knob turned and the door was pulled open. He jumped to his feet and began to apologize, but Asuna just help up a hand and silenced him.

"You saw _nothing,_" She said, making sure their eyes locked to emphasize her point.

Kazuto swallowed under the force of her gaze and said, "Ah...yes, ma'am."

* * *

_Clink, tap, scrape..._

Trying his best to keep his eyes fixed on the plate of food before him, Kazuto pulled another modest mouthful into his mouth and chewed slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible.

The rest of the table was equally silent, save for the sounds of utensils clinking against plates and bowls and the soft sounds of chewing echoing through the room, further amplified by the utter lack of conversation.

_Are all their meals like this?_

Kazuto was sitting next to Kyouko, Asuna's mother, something that had made him nervous at first to hear. Despite the small amendments he had made to their relationship that one day at the hospital, the woman was still very much detached from him and his life, something Kazuto was painfully aware of. She wasn't really making any eye contact with him at the moment, something Kazuto was partially glad for, since it would have been awkward to have to look down on the woman to talk to her.

Asuna was sitting across from him, also quietly munching on her food, although she would press her foot against his in reassurance every now and then. Hideki sat to her left, and at the head of the table was Shouzou, the father. Kazuto had just about resigned himself to not speaking for the rest of the night when Asuna's brother cleared his throat loudly, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"You know, Kazuto, you seem to be a very quiet type," Hideki said with the usual smile. "From what I heard from Asuna, I would have expected you to be more outspoken."

_His hair is jet black,_ Kazuto noticed absently. It was much like Shouzou's in color and texture. Kyouko's hair was considerably lighter, but it only achieved a sort of light brown tone that did not come close to the honey-colored locks that tumbled down her daughter's back. Perhaps Asuna's hair color was something rare in the family.

"Oh, he is outspoke," Asuna chimed in, practically kicking him under the table to prompt Kazuto to speak. "Isn't that right, Kazu-kun?"

Kazuto blinked and looked up, making eye contact with Hideki. "Ah, yes, I do tend to be outspoken sometimes," He rambled, searching for some sort of purchase in the exchange. "But I have my quiet moments as well, I suppose."

Hideki _hmmed_ and nodded in understanding, forking some more of his salad. "My sister seems to be quite fond of you. Have you been treating her well?"

Deciding he needed to have a greater presence in the conversation, Kazuto smiled wryly at Asuna and said, "I try my best."

Hideki chuckled when his sister ducked her head, and changed topics. "I see. I've also heard that you exhibit an exceptional skill in the computing field; am I correct in this assumption?"

Kazuto remembered Asuna saying that her brother hadn't even been aware of his existence until very recently, and wondered how she'd told so much in such a short amount of time. "Yes," he nodded. "It's been a hobby of mine since I was young, and I plan to pursue a career in it, software programming in particular."

Asuna's brother nodded and closed his eyes, smiling at apparently nothing in particular.

"In that case, Kazuto, I have a proposition for you."

Shouzou glanced upwards from his dinner to stare at his son. Kyouko also lifted her head to join her husband, the looks on their faces suggesting that they had a very good idea of what was coming next.

"Hideki, you can't mean..." Shouzou began.

"I do," The elder child said firmly, setting his utensils down carefully on the table. Then he clasped his hands together and set them on the edge of the table, clearing his throat for the coming monologue.

"Kazuto," Hideki explained, "You may already know this, but I have managed to gain a solid foothold in the business world, namely in a company named Complexity. It specializes in developing and testing future technologies that have the potential to because immensely useful to the general populace in the foreseeable future. As you know, Kazuto, many of these technologies involve plenty of programming and software development. But I will hasten to my point; I am offering you an internship at Complexity, and should you accept it, you may one day become employed by them if you so wish."

Asuna's eyes had gone wide by now, and her gaze flitted between her brother and her boyfriend, wanting to demand what the hell was going on but too afraid to miss more information as a result.

"I would ensure that your work schedule would not interfere with your studies in college," Hideki continued. "If you want to know more, you can always come ask me."

"I know about Complexity," Kazuto said slowly, even his exceptional brain struggling to catch up. "They're the world's leader in innovative technologies. They were the ones who came up with the original concept of VR. Hideki-san, what you're offering me is..."

Shouzou grunted and set his own utensils down. "What my son is offering you now is a splendid opportunity, Kazuto. But also mind that it may close all other career choices for you in the future. Enlisting with Complexity is something that will stay with you forever, regardless of whether you choose to stay or not. Remember that."

"I'll give you some time to think about it," Hideki smiled. "You have until your graduation to decide, in any case. Just give it some thought, okay?"

"Sure," Kazuto murmured, still trying to figure out the implications of what had just transpired.

Meanwhile, Asuna was trying to catch up on an entirely different subject.

"I thought you were an accountant," She finally said blandly, and Kyouko facepalmed herself.

* * *

**As always, thanks a ton for reading an leave a review if you have anything to say! ^_^**

**And on another note, what do you guys think about Hitomi's character? Is she a good OC? If it works out, I plan to use her as a major character in the future…give you your thought! Thanks.**


	9. Crossing Field

Chapter 9: Crossing Field

_Late afternoon, Complexity head staff establishment, one week before Hideki meets Kazuto_

When Fuzen huffed in a stately manner through his small cigar, it did not produce the usual strong burst of cocaine-infused smoke. The thing was running low on juice, contributing to the rather irritating lack of kick left in it, but for once the man was not irked by such a trivial thing. After all, he had better things to worry about.

Namely, plotting.

Exhaling slowly out of his mouth, he pulled the cigar from between his teeth and arched his neck to watch the smoke curl its way up to the ceiling before dispelling at its peak. He watched the wreaths of smoke twist in the air until they were completely out of sight, and only then did he stub the cigar and lower his head once more. Leaving the cigar on the ashtray, standing straight up on the smashed-in end of the stalk, Fuzen spin deliberately in his high-backed chair and linked his fingers, glaring hard at the shaded window opposite him.

Reaching into his breast pocket, he eased out the nanotech phone resting in the space there, keying open the device once he'd done so. The nano-cell was something still in development by his teams and was far from people ready to be marketed, but being the president of Complexity had its perks, and exclusive tech specs were one of them. Swiping and tapping his way through the phone's files, he brought up a particular file on a human profile, eyes absently scanning over the person's dimensions and bodily specifics for what felt like the millionth time.

Grunting, Fuzen continued glaring at the photo that was attached to the profile, the gears in his head turning like well-oiled clockwork. Changing his plans was something the businessman despised doing, as any tweaks made to carefully laid-out plots were often last minute and virtually ineffective. And now, during the process of one of his most critical schemes yet, _this _had to come into the picture and turn everything on its side. Literally, everything. Not a single detail of the original plan remained after what Fuzen had seen on that human profile, a fact that irritated him to no end. He had grown up in the slums and learned to fight for himself in order to survive, taking everything from everyone he could and never making a single error in his plots. Once he had established himself in his local area, he had gone on to tackle the vast world of economics, business, enterprise, and the inevitable behind-the-scenes trickery that came with it. Over the course of fifty one years since he had left his mother's womb, Fuzen had gone from a dirt-poor runt on the streets to the omnipotent head of Japan's largest company in innovative technologies. All through precise planning and not a single mistake along the way.

"Damn child," He muttered gruffly, turning around to grind the butt off the cigar deeper into the surface of the ashtray. "Damn the child and her parents."

Despite the immense prosperity Complexity enjoyed due to its status as the unopposed champion of the future (technology wise), the company was not operating at tis peak performance at the current time. About half a year prior, Fuzen had been preoccupied with fighting off the law in a consuming debate which had eaten away at his ability to work. The debate itself had been about his two-year absence from the world. Fuzen had come under fire from complaints about atrocities committed by himself and others within the death game of that accursed scientist, and only through skillful bribery and the pulling of the right strings had he managed to escape a prison sentence. Now he walked as a free man, but he could feel the eyes of the people on him at all times.

And now, during a time of crisis where his company had taken a minor nose-dive, his assets had begun to slip, and several underground friends had severed their connections to him due to his prolonged absence, the head of Complexity was forced to deal with this..._scum,_ a mosquito that refused to be swatted properly and only came back to risk its well-being once again.

Realizing that his breathing was becoming a bit more erratic, Fuzen muttered to himself and reached into his desk to produce a second cigar. Lighting the new one, he jammed it between his teeth and leaned back, momentarily ignoring the massive piles of work waiting for him and trying to think, think, come up with a way...

_Knock knock._

The anger and irritation rose inside of Fuzen's chest like a wildfire at having his train of thought derailed, but forced himself to suppress the rising emotion. Clearing his throat loudly to cleanse his mind, the executive called out, "Enter."

The doorknob across the room turned, and the door it was married to was pushed open by the incoming visitor. Raising his eyes, Fuzen saw Hideki making his way into the office.

"Ah, Hideki," The executive greeted briefly, turning to face the man in his chair and setting down the cigar. "How good to see you. Come, have a seat."

"Thank you," The respectable young man said politely, taking the chair he was offered. Fuzen popped the cigar back between his teeth and blew a small smoke ring, satisfied at its strength, while he waited for his subordinate to speak his mind.

Hideki did not express himself immediately, instead dining to gaze upon the heavily framed portraits lining the wall to his right, oil paintings of all the presidents of Complexity before his boss. Fuzen followed the boy's gaze and narrowed his eyes slightly. It was true that he was quite fond of the young man, but sometimes he took too long to prepare for his monologues.

Then, at long last, he spoke. "You see, sir..." Hideki began.

Fuzen blinked at him once to prompt an elaboration.

"...there is something I wish to ask of you."

Now that caught his interest. Stubbing his second cigar despite having smoked it for only a few minutes, the executive leaned forward in his desk and clasped his meaty hands together and gave Hideki his entire undivided attention.

"And what," He asked slowly, "Might that be?"

The younger man squirmed in his seat for a moment before raising his head and saying, "I wish to take on an apprentice, of sorts."

Hideki Yuuki was the son of a very good friend of Fuzen's, Shouzou Yuuki. Well, more technically speaking, he and Shouzou were half-brothers. They were uterine siblings, meaning they shared a mother but had differing fathers. The issues their mother had had to deal with regarding divorces and commitment had, however, let the half-brothers to regard themselves more as very close friends in order to avoid any sort of affiliation with said "family issues." Fuzen was also rather fond of Shouzou, although this favor was tested by his younger brother's inability to think coldly and calculate without factoring human compassion into the equation. But family was family, at least until they ceased to benefit you.

The Complexity executive had not, however, maintained any sort of feasible connection with the other side of his family aside from the occasional phone call. The reasoning behind this was rather simple: he could not allow them to interfere in his affairs. In business the element of surprise is always key, and having more people obligated to stay close to him was _no bueno_. Not to mention that he had never been overly fond of his little half-brother's wife or the children, for that matter. Even now his relationship with Shouzou was strained by lack of contact and general detachment, something Fuzen hoped to prolong.

Blinking, he sat back in his chair and _hmmed. _"An apprentice? Care to elaborate?"

Taking a deep breath, Hideki said, "Sir, I have been looking to expand on my career's opportunities for quite some time now, something that may or may not have escaped your attention. Despite my love for traveling and the various types of business I have encountered, I wish to establish myself in one particular area and be able to frequent that place. To me, that place is home. If I were to be able to take up a position in this very building, I could be pivotal to many ongoing projects still stuck on the drawing board. The apprentice is someone I wish to nurture for the future, someone I can pass on my knowledge to. I am by no means an old man with a life's worth of experience to relate, but I feel that I have much to give."

Hideki's relation to the boss's half-brother had certainly been part of the reason for his rapid acceleration through the ranks, but Fuzen had always known that the young man was a hard working soul who had earned every bit of his success. Now, he did not particularly agree with the honesty the youngster seemed to exhibit much like his father, and Hideki still received a measure of dissent from his peers due to his rapid promotions. At one point in Hideki's career, Fuzen had promised him any request, anything he could give, in order to thank him for his tireless efforts. It was true that the Complexity executive was at his core a liar, schemer, and traitor by habit, but he still believed in rewarding people (when he felt like it). A warped philosophy perhaps, but it wasn't like anyone was brave enough to say it aloud.

Fuzen turned halfway in his seat and took his own time to gaze upon the portraits hanging ominously from the wall, one long procession of presidents leading the nation of Japan through the next step into the future. Like a never ending continuum.

"Do you have anybody in mind?" He asked absently.

Hideki nodded; that boy always had an answer for everything. "Yes," He affirmed.

"His name is Kirigaya Kazuto."

The name thundered in Fuzen's ears at a thousand decibels.

Despite employing his "poker face" skills, the executive could not keep his countenance from contorting once before he pinned it under his control. Still refusing to face Hideki, he stared at the paintings for a moment longer in order to regain his composure. Then he forced a smile and turning back to his visitor.

"Kazuto-san, you say?" Fuzen asked stiffly, drumming his fingers across the mahogany of his desk.

"Can you tell me more about him?"

Hideki seemed confused that his superior would take any sort of interest in his potential student, but he obliged his boss. "He's quite close to our family actually, or so I can infer, as I have returned home only recently. He is in a budding relationship with my little sister," he added with a smile. "I have yet to meet him, to confess, but I've heard enough of his technological prowess to at least consider him for the position. He constructed his first computer when he was ten and won a science fair with it, and he was smart enough to get out of that death-game crisis a while back alive and well."

"Seems like a fine young man," The executive murmured softly, lost in thought for a moment. Then he rose from his chair, saying, "Well in that case, Hideki, consider your request granted. I'll have an office set up for you a few floors under and leave you to move in as you see fit. You will be free of any business trips for quite some time, but they are not over. Soon we will require your services once again."

"Thank you, sir."

Once Hideki had left, he linked his cell to his laptop screen and pulled up the full specs for the profile he'd been studying earlier. Reaching out, Fuzen traced his index finger under the curve of the subject's chin in the photo provided, wondering if he would discover some sort of resemblance to the parents but found none, unsurprisingly.

Smirking, Fuzen closed the profile. Looking at it any longer wouldn't change anything. In any case, the girl would serve her purpose and then be disposed of.

Forever.

* * *

It happened on a Saturday.

Kazuto was sitting at home continuing his work on the computer program that would allow him to see his in-game daughter again once the nine month waiting period was over and he could use VR once more. When Kazuto had initially awoke from Aincrad, he had been worried that the game would be obliterated entirely and Yui's existence likewise erased. Instead, the floating castle was brought into the world of ALfheim, where it now made its constant journey across the skies of the land of faeries. Thanks to this, the SAO servers were intact and safe for the time being, albeit with very few active users. None, actually, if you considered the fact that none of the survivors were medically cleared to utilized full-dive technology, but Kazuto knew for sure that there were players out there who had chosen to ignore that ruling. Not to mention that scores of inspectors occasionally made their way through the many floors, scouring the land for any lasting trace of Kayaba Akihiko; despite his death, there were fears that through some sort of clever twist, the intelligence the scientist had grafted onto the Global Net would come back to haunt them. So the SAO servers were certainly not abandoned, simply underfilled.

Now, merely completing the writing of the program was no guarantee of being able to maintain contact with Yui again. Any software was useless without the tools to run it, tools Kazuto simply did not own and had no chance of being able to afford. No, it would require the resources of some sort of gargantuan coalition of _money_ to set up the tech and hardware that had to pair along with his software. A place with the equipment to supply his ambition.

Somewhere like Complexity.

Kazuto had performed some research on the company he'd been offered a position in in his spare time, although he did not find much information he was not already privy to. He had, however, gleaned the identity of the company's head: President Fuzen, surname unknown. Although the absence of a last name available on the net would have seemed odd to others, Kazuto was well aware that it was a safety measure; he had heard legends of the days long past when celebrities and business juggernauts had dared to walk around in public knowing that their faces and surnames were out there to be known. Perhaps such behavior would have been acceptable half a century ago, but in today's world the various ways one could undermine another simply by being in possession of a full name was too dangerous to risk.

Now of course, there was also the decision to make on whether or not to accept Hideki's offer. An internship at Complexity could very well be (career speaking) the best thing to ever happen to him, as long as he made his way around smartly. Although Kazuto couldn't say for sure, he hoped fervently to be able to join the software sector of the company. A place where he could bring his abounding innovations to life, somewhere he could associate with people who actually understood his talk.

A means to bringing Yui back.

Rubbing tiredly at his eyes, Kazuto resumed threading the encryption codes for the software, fighting sleep to stay up and make progress. Dimly, he recalled that the results from his college entrance exams were supposed to be coming any day now. Was it today? Yesterday? Next week? Hell, he had no idea. Yawning, he tried to push the thought out of his mind.

Then the phone rang.

The sound made him sit straight up in lightning fast fashion in his chair, shocked to hear the loud ringing so late into the night. Cursing, he realized that he should have lowered the volume on his cell, seeing as it was well past midnight. Then the thought struck him; who the hell had the need to contact him at one thirty five in the morning, anyways?

Without even checking the caller ID, he let out a short grumble before answering the phone and grunting, "Hello?" In a hoarse voice.

"KAZUTO!" Screamed a voice from the other end, so loudly that it thundered into his eardrums with the force of a stampede of elephants and caused the boy to flinch badly for the second time. Switching the phone to his other side and rubbing the offended ear, Kazuto halved the volume and hissed, "_What?_ It's one in the morning!"

"_Check your email!" _Asuna's voice just said back, ignoring everything else in favor of keeping the volume of her voice at its high levels.

Sighing in exasperation, Kazuto set down the phone for a moment in order to pull up a web browser. A few clicks and a typed in password later, he was staring at his undisturbed inbox.

"I've checked," Kazuto said testily into the phone. "Was something special supposed to happen?"

Asuna groaned from the other end, and Kazuto thought he heard other voices in the background. Was the whole family up to bother him?

"_Refresh it, silly," _His girlfriend said back. "_And hurry!"_

Shaking his head, Kazuto hit the refresh symbol and waited for the deed to be done. Once it had, his eyes scanned down the list of received, unopened mail until their landed on a particular message. His lips went dry for just a moment and he was forced to lick them, trying to untwist his tongue to form comprehensible words. Reaching out, Kazuto opened the email and rapidly fired through its contents, his heartbeat exponentially increasing with every sentence he consumed.

"_Have you read it yet?_" Asuna asked impatiently from the other end of the line.

For once, Kazuto didn't feel like rebuking the girl for her persistence.

"I..." He began, still struggling to understand the situation with his sleep-deprived mind.

"I've been accepted to Tokyo University."

He heard Asuna squeal in delight on the other end but barely registered it, still staring slack jawed at the email sitting in front of him. Surely, he had held some considerable hope of being admitted to the most prestigious university in Japan, but to see the vision become a reality...

"_I've been accepted too!_" Asuna shouted. "_We're going to go to university together!"_

"Seems so," Kazuto replied slowly.

Then a slow smile spread across his face.

Leaning towards the phone, he said teasingly, "Looks like you'll have to put up with me for four more years, eh?"

Asuna just laughed joyously at the prod, saying back, "I wouldn't have it any other way, Kazuto.

"There's no one else I'd rather end up with."

His heart swelled at those words, clich'e as they may be. So his worry about the future had been for naught after all. He would have four years, four years left with Asuna. Four years to build something everlasting. Allowing himself a soft, grateful laugh, he reached out and caressed the computer screen before him and the code displayed on it.

_What do you think of that, Yui?_ He thought.

_Mama and Papa are going to be together forever._

* * *

The next day, the news began to slowly trickle in and spread among the various households. Kazuto and Asuna had been accepted to Tokyo. Rika had been admitted to the highest institution involving perfection of the arts and crafts. Keiko was left largely unmentioned under the wake of all these sudden acceptances; a fact that she despised, seeing as it would separate her from her precious friends, but at the same time the freshman felt a small flame of pride for her senpais. The only one to entirely miss the news was Klein, who was still traveling the world on his business trip and wouldn't return until they had all been attending college for quite some time. Egil sent his congratulations, along with Yulier and Thinker, who Kazuto hadn't heard from in months.

By the time all of the news had settled down to a more manageable level, it was the first of May and the roots of spring had already begun to dig into the hearts and souls of the people. And when dawn spread its fingertips of rose into the sky on the first of May, Kazuto opened his eyes to realize that the time had simply whipped by without his notice. It seemed like only yesterday that he'd been learning to walk again, and only a couple hours since Asuna had been released from the hospital. In four months they would be able to use VR again. He had a job of sorts at Complexity (Kazuto had decided to take up Hideki's offer, surprising the man at the quickness of the boy's response). Rika was going to another college, and he and Asuna would leave behind Suguha, Keiko, and Egil, not to mention their respective families.

It also turned out the Hitomi was a student at Tokyo University, resulting in a rather dubious remark about "two years of fun." The nurse was a sophomore going on junior, meaning she would be around to "guide the younglings" for a couple of years. Kazuto honestly did not know what to think about that.

Kazuto knew that many of the things he had learned to take for granted were going to disappear. He had not, however, expected one of them to take their leave as quickly as it did. He was helping Suguha cut vegetables in the kitchen one night (which pretty much embodied the extent of his cooking abilities) when his phone buzzed on the counter. Setting down the knife he'd been wielding, Kazuto left his sister to her work to go answer it. He'd expected to hear Asuna once he picked up, but today it wasn't.

"_Hey,_" Said Rika's voice softly.

"Hey," Kazuto greeted back, in an equally delicate fashion. "What's up?"

"_Ah, well..."_ A slight pause.

"_Can you meet me right now?"_

Kazuto raised his eyebrows and checked the clock, noting that it was nine o'clock at night. Turning back to the phone, he said, "Well, it's pretty late...is it something urgent?"

"_Yes. I need to see you now."_

A frown. Then a smile. "Okay," He consented. "Where?"

"_Local park. Center bench. Ten minutes."_

The local park was shrouded in shadows when Kazuto arrived there, wrapped up tightly in a thick jacket to combat the sharp biting cold that frost his breath whenever he exhaled. The only source of illumination was from a single lamp that hovered over the central bench in the park, like a small island stranded in a sea of black. He could see Rika's slight figure sitting on the bench, waiting patiently, and briefly wondered how she'd known which lamp post would be on. Had she been planning this?

Taking his steps forward, Kazuto stepped into the pool of light and sat next to her on the bench, although he maintained a respectable distance. The night air was so frigid that their breaths billowed from their mouths. Rika was staring into the wall of darkness in front of her, not yet acknowledging Kazuto's presence, and the boy took a moment to observe her. Her hair had grown out a bit over the past few months, and now the tips reached to kiss her shoulders. It made the former blacksmith look older than Kazuto considered her to be, and in a sudden rush he realized that Rika actually was as old as her appearance suggested. He shouldn't think of her as the fifteen year old Lisbeth he'd met in Aincrad; no, now she was a fully grown woman.

"It's cold tonight," Rika said softly at last, startling Kazuto out of his brief reverie. Taking a moment to compose himself, he tried to follow the girl's soft pink gaze but found nothing. Shaking his head, the boy replied,

"Yeah. Strange, since it's spring now."

Rika adjusted her seat and moved closer to the center, sitting so that their shoulders just barely brushed together. Kazuto took note of this development but didn't think much of it. Looking into the night through half-lidded eyes, the girl continued to speak.

"It almost looks like there's nothing out there," She said quietly. "As if there's nothing to look for. What do you think?"

Kazuto spared a cursory glance at the darkness and said simply, "Well if you run over there I'm sure you'll trip over something."

Rika laughed at that and leaned into him, using his shoulder as a support. "You would say that. Straightforward and practical. You were never one for anything superfluous, were you?"

"Not really."

The partial redhead nodded in agreement and let her cheek plop onto the top of his shoulder and rest there, the tips of her hair reaching up to tickle Kazuto's ear. "I've always liked that about you," She said absently. "You brought sense to a chaotic world..."

"Where's that coming from?" Kazuto asked with a small chuckle, trying to ignore the fact that Rika's entire left side was pressed against him. And she was _warm._

Rika smiled and closed her eyes. "When I first met you, I thought you looked too plain and simple to be of any interest or use," She explained. "But how wrong was I? In the end, your simplicity and straightforwardness was what saved us all. You did things no one else could just by doing them, and you peeled apart peoples' shells and got inside like no one else could.

"You were easy to be around, after a little while," The former blacksmith continued. "Yet equally impossible to understand."

"I wasn't that complicated," Kazuto replied. "I just didn't let people know, was all. I was quite unsociable."

Rika shook her head in disagreement and turned to bury her nose into his jacket, making Kazuto tense up in surprise. Rika was a very dear friend to him, but this was...

"No," She whispered. "You made people feel safe. Even when they couldn't understand you, they felt secure. I felt secure. That night we spent in the dragon's den..."

Kazuto stared down at her in bewilderment as she leaned back and rubbed at her face, laughing nervously. "I fell pretty hard for you, you know. Silly, now that I look back on it. Like a sword, you can build one, but can't improve upon one that has already been handled by another..."

"Rika," Kazuto said seriously, "What's gotten into-"

"I didn't know what to think really, when I saw you and Asuna together for the first time," Rika said abruptly, smiling at him with smudged eyes. "I felt happy for her, but still...this ugly, bad feeling. Some sort of hunger. For a warmth I'd been able to taste but not consume. A warmth you gave me." Then she laughed again, and hiccuped. "How cruel of you, Kazu-kun," Rika choked out before having to reach up and wipe at her eyes again. "How could you leave me to crave for such a long time?"

By this point, Kazuto was at a total loss. "I-I didn't..."

"That's right, maybe you didn't," Rika whispered, leaning in to emphasize her words. "That's why I wanted to see you here, Kazu-kun, because I wanted you to know...at least to know, this heat I've been carrying around for so long, before I leave..."

"R-Rika, don't-" Kazuto stuttered as the girl's face drew closer and closer, and more specifically, her lips. This was completely uncalled for, he hadn't even seen it coming, what was going on? When had Rika gotten like this?

Finally, Rika's lips were a millimeter from his, and he was prepared to push her away when she choked out,

"Please..."

Their lips met, then, although Rika contributed most of the movement, while Kazuto simply scrunched his eyes shut and tried to ride out the hideous feelings of betrayal that threatened to take over. After feeling their wet, slippery lips press together for a moment longer, the blacksmith pulled back and smiled faintly at Kazuto, who just watched, slaw jawed.

Leaning in, Rika whispered, "Take care of Asuna for me, okay?" Before taking off into the darkness.

Kazuto watched her go, and only when her back had disappeared into the night did he collapse into the arms of the bench, staring sightlessly at the stars above. He could still feel Rika's lips slipping between his, and more specifically, the message behind them. That she was sorry, but her needs had to fulfilled just this once.

And as he continued to stare at the sky above him, Kazuto sighed tiredly. Well, perhaps it hadn't been totally uncalled for. He had been well aware that there were other females who harbored some sort of interest in him from the very beginning, but had failed to ensure that nothing like this would occur. A lack of management on his part.

Then a thought occurred to him.

_I'll never be able to look her in the eye again._

With that established, Kazuto was about to get up and off to bench to leave when he saw her.

Keiko was standing behind the bench, arms crossed in her usual stubborn manner, watching him with a critical eye. The girl's usual pigtails were let down today so that her chocolate brown hair cascaded down her back, and for one of the first times he saw that she wasn't wearing her school uniform.

"Um...I-" Kazuto stuttered, wondering how much she had scene.

"Don't worry, I won't tell," Keiko said in a low monotone, and initially he sighed in relief. Then his ears caught onto the girl's tone and he asked, "What's the matter?"

Keiko just closed her eyes and sighed, dipping her head like he was a child who couldn't figure out first-level math.

"Just let this be a lesson to you," She said at last. Then she turned to leave.

"Sometimes you just have to cut people off, and forget."

Then she was gone too, and Kazuto was left to contemplate,

_But what if I can't?_

* * *

**_Please no flames for the minor KazutoxRika, I felt it was necessary to close her role as a character in this story. Since she's going to a different university, future appearances will be strictly limited or even nonexistent. So I just wanted to resolve one of her greatest issues, her unrequited love for Kazuto, in a way that would not threaten or ruin his relationship with Asuna._**

**_But in any case, please review if you have anything to say!_**


	10. Constant

**DAT FILLER CHAPTER**

* * *

Chapter 10: Constant

When Kazuto returned from his encounter with Rika and closed the door behind him, he could tell that the atmosphere of the home he'd come back to was something to be wary of. There was the scent of food, but it wasn't a fresh one, meaning the meal had been made and served for a while now, giving it time to cool. Something that would displease his sister to no end. A general sense of stillness around him, as if the single remaining resident of the home hadn't moved around during his absence, instead opting to sit at the table with her arms crossed, waiting expectantly.

"I'm back," Kazuto said needlessly as he entered the kitchen that held the small table where they held their meals. Suguha just glanced at him in a cursory manner before returning to the devouring of her meal, as if it was the most singularly important thing at the moment. Perhaps it was. Kazuto wouldn't be the one to attest otherwise.

"What did Rika-san need?" Suguha asked through a mouthful of fish at last, just as her brother was easing himself into a chair opposite. Kazuto blinked at her and picked up his chopsticks, clacking them once against the surface of the table to even them out before reaching for a morsel of fish himself. Suguha just flicked her wrist and slapped the utensils away though, staring at him with questioning eyes that demanded answers fervently enough to drill holes through him. Sighing, the man set down this chopsticks and leaned back in his chair.

"Nothing really," Kazuto said diplomatically, too tired to take up the challenge of a potential argument with his little sister. "She just wanted to say goodbye, you know, before we all part ways."

Suguha's slanted, searching gaze almost seemed to probe him like a microscope, and a wave of goosebumps rose on Kazuto's flesh. What was she getting at?

"I see," The girl finally murmured, reaching up to flip her hair behind her shoulder. The movement caught Kazuto's attention; her hair had grown as well, just reaching the shoulders like Rika's.

"Then why do you smell like perfume?"

His goosebumps joined the ridged hairs standing up like lightningrods on the back of his neck when Suguha made the ridiculously offhand comment. Picking up the chopsticks again to make a second attempt at retrieving a bite of the fish, Kazuto ventured, "Well, don't girls wear perfume? And perfume clings."

"Well yes, brother, but you simply _reek_ of the stuff," The in-game Sylph quipped back at him in a manner that suggested that she wasn't feeling as dubious as she sounded. "And judging from my varied experiences, I can safely say that you'd have to be awfully close to someone to smell so strongly of it."

"I-" Kazuto gulped, his arguments crumbling under the force of his sister's accusing glare. "It's not what you think, Suguha. She just wanted to say goodbye."

"Seems like an awfully intimate farewell."

"Well...yeah. It was. But it doesn't mean anything."

"Did she kiss you?"

"I...yes."

"And how do you intend to justify that?"

"_Do I have to?"_

"YES!" Suguha shouted, standing up and slamming her hand on the wooden surface of the table for emphasis, coming dangerously close to throwing her palm into the flesh of the recently cooked fish. "How are you going to stay faithful to Asuna if you keep allowing things like this to happen? People have tried left and right to separate the two of you. Girls at school pursue you and guys bother Asuna. Takashi happened. Keiko and Rika had their antics. Asuna's mother has already tried to marry her off and she'll probably try again. You need to stop these kinds of things from happening. I've stood aside and watched it all play out all this time, hoping you'd be able to fix things, but I'm tired of waiting!"

Kazuto didn't respond to his sister's outburst immediately, instead choosing to sit there and absorb her words to analyze them carefully. While the younger girl had always admired his ability to look deeply into any situation, now she hated it because she knew her brother would come up with an argument sound enough to trump hers.

Surprisingly enough, however, Kazuto just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in defeat.

"You're right," He conceded. "It's just that...it's hard to disappoint people on purpose, you know?"

"Kazuto," Suguha murmured solemnly as she reclaimed her seat, "Just remember that when you and Asuna head off to university, it's just going to be the two of you. She'll be more dependent on you than ever, and that mean's you'll be that much more dependent on her, whether you like it or not. So just...don't screw up, okay?"

Her older brother smiled crookedly at her over the fingers covering his face, the expressing seeming like an odd mix of gratefulness and regret. _But he's still my brother,_ Suguha thought. Biologically cousins, but siblings by nature. It was going to be her job to worry about Kazuto for the rest of her life, and that was a job she did not mind having.

Standing up, Suguha walked around the length of the table and bent down to ruffle her brother's hair affectionately in a manner reminiscent of their mother.

"You know, I'll miss you too," She said softly to him before leaving the man's hair alone. "Everyone will, but they support you. And like you said, it'd be shameful for you to disappoint them."

Laughing drily, Kazuto drew his hand away from his face and asked, "I'd never realized you'd become so wise."

Suguha returned her brother's crooked smile.

"To live with you, I have to be."

* * *

Since then, the days seemed to pass a big more sluggishly, for once. To Kazuto, it felt like the appearance of a milestone in the foreseeable future was the result of this slowdown in time. Whether it would bring fortune or ruin, he was on the precipice of attending a four year university with the girl of his dreams. Now, if that were you, wouldn't you be a bit mentally preoccupied?

At least his workload from high school wasn't so great nowadays, seeing as the year was drawing to a close in order to give way to summer vacation. This gave Kazuto enough time to think not only about Asuna, but also about the classes he would take in college, as well as where he was to live. After an extensive discussion with his aunt, Kazuto had decided that he would live alone during his university life rather than stay home. Aside from the commuting advantages of a move (it was a forty-five minute drive to Tokyo from his home), his aunt had also encouraged him to go and experience the world and its challenges himself without the aid of an adult figure.

"You're your own parent now," She had told him earnestly. "And that, obviously, means taking complete care of yourself. Although I hate to admit it, you're not a child anymore. You'll have to leave the house someday, and this is a good opportunity for you, Kazu-kun. Go and make a name for yourself."

Asuna had also decided to leave her household and live alone, something that Kazuto was shamefully grateful for. He had spent many a day lying on his bed and wondering, entertaining thoughts about what could take place with no one around to interrupt them, more than some of the fantasies rather inappropriate.

The slow passage of time did not, however, mean that Kazuto would have time to be as sluggish. No, there were things he had to follow up on. Namely, his internship at Complexity.

Asuna went with him on the subway ride there, claiming that she had nothing to do with herself. As the lights lining the sides of the carbon-fiber reinforced tracks of the subterranean train flickered past through the flexiglass of the windows, Kazuto twined his fingers through Asuna's and held her close, content to keep the conversation at a minimum. They were in a subway anyways, and the steady strumming of the train's tires against the rails made for a soothing rhythm, perfect for allowing the young couple to enjoy each other's warmth in silence.

As the subway made its journey through the tunnels, Kazuto let his mind wander. He had decided, after much debate, not to mention Rika's confession of sorts to his girlfriend. Besides the obvious issues with jealousy and a potential conflict between best friends, he'd felt that what Rika had said and done to him that night was meant to stay between the two of them. She had shown a weaker side to herself to him without reserve, and such a measure of trust was something Kazuto would treasure forever. Not to mention the words she'd whispered to him before taking flight:

_Take care of Asuna for me, okay?_

Almost like the girl was passing on some sort of ownership or responsibility. A task they may have shared in the past, but was now to be solely laid to rest on Kazuto's shoulders.

Entrusting him.

"_Sometimes you just have to cut people off, and let go."_

_Perhaps a bit too brutal with the word choice there, Keiko, but you seem to have the right idea,_ Kazuto thought as he moved to press his nose against the bewitching scent of Asuna's tresses. Then, dimly, Suguha's words returned as well: _"You need to stop these kinds of things from happening."_

Kazuto huffed lightly under his breath. All these small children running around spouting proverbs.

Asuna blinked her eyes open at his aggressive exhalation, and Kazuto saw her golden irises dilate for a moment before flitting in his direction. "Something wrong?" She murmured quietly. From the sound of her voice, she'd been asleep.

Kazuto kissed her ear and nuzzled it. "Nothing," He assured her. Then he added, "I love you."

The girl immediately blushed profusely at the three magic words, bringing a smile to her face. Her boyfriend's verbal proclamations of love were few and far between, as the man believed that such things shouldn't be uttered frivolously. He understood that good things were often best administered in small doses, to keep them special.

Humming in content, she replied, "I love you, too."

* * *

The Complexity building stood tall among the structures of the downtown city that sprawled across a narrow valley, a bustling metropolis that was as magnificent as it was confusing. Even among its fellow brethren, the crystal-like skyscraper reared upwards like a giant. From what Kazuto could see, the exterior was constructed entirely out of plexiglass, a variant of flexiglass which reflected light back in a way that made the entire structure shine like a light. The glass had been tinted black, however, most likely to preserve the privacy of the workers, and the darkening of color resulted in a deep and ominous shine that made it look all the more looming.

_Well, they certainly aren't short on money,_ Kazuto thought as he pushed open the rotating doors into the building.

Hideki had sent him a message through their phones earlier in the day, asking if Kazuto had the time to come and finalize his internship at Complexity. He had complied readily, eager now to take on this new career opportunity. The older businessman had told him that he would be in a meeting, so Kazuto would have to wait in the lobby until he was fetched. This brought to Kazuto's attention just how busy a man Hideki must be, and it made him feel guilty to eat away further at the man's schedule, but what's done is done.

He'd dressed in semi-formal attire for the occasion, still unsure what his age demanded when it came to important meetings for a potential job. So he'd forgone something totally strict for a more crisp look, just not...Kyouko style.

While he waited, Kazuto stared at an oil painting hanging innocently from the wall opposite. It depicted nothing he personally could make sense of; the artwork consisted simply of several lashes of paint thrown onto the canvas at seemingly random angles, in differing colors. Blinking in exasperation at it, Kazuto shook his head and sighed.

"Tired already, Kazuto-san?"

Blinking, he looked up to see Hideki standing at the end of the lobby, smiling his usual smile. Grinning back, he stood up and walked over to the man. "Just a bit nervous," He conceded, falling into step with the businessman as he led the boy deeper into the building.

"Well, that is only natural," Hideki assured him. "I must tell you, though, that I'm surprised my boss approved you to work in my division. He's not usually the generous type, and I've been kept on a strict schedule of business abroad for years now. I don't know for sure what changed the President's mind, but it benefits you, eh?"

"Mmm," Kazuto murmured absentmindedly as they entered a working floor on the lower levels of the building. He could see some of the men and women peeking over the edges of their cubicles in curiosity, wondering who this skinny kid was walking elbow to elbow with the acclaimed Yuuki Hideki. He tried his best to ignore the stares, but could already hear the whispers snaking across the room.

"Come, now," Hideki ushered softly, pushing Kazuto gently into a nearby elevator and pushing the door closed without waiting for anyone else to get in. Once the bell had _dinged_ and the floor beneath them began to elevate, Hideki said,

"Don't let them bother you, Kazuto. It's very true that no one your age has ever managed to come close to the position you are being offered, but I'm sure you'll do fine."

Alarms went off in his head. "_Nobody?_"

A shake of the head. "No. All interns are usually around twenty or older. While this may seem a bit old to be applying for an internship, Complexity is very selective in its recruiting, which is why it has managed to stay on top for all these years. Or namely, President Fuzen's strict orders have kept us afloat."

"Fuzen?"

"President of Complexity and one of the most powerful men in Japan. He has a dark and shrouded past he does not mention, but I believe that he is a good man. He works for an honest company and makes honest money. He seemed quite interested to hear your name, Kazuto. Perhaps he's heard of you."

Kazuto frowned and tapped at the outside of his thigh with his fingers in deep thought. "Doesn't sound likely. He's probably much too busy to have heard of me. Did you ask?"

Hideki smiled wryly. "One does not question the President too closely."

The elevator completed its ascent, and the doors hissed open on well-oiled hinges. Hideki stepped out and led his young charge through a winding series of hallways before showing Kazuto into a small room that contained nothing more than a circular table and some cabinets. A short, balding man was waiting for them inside, and when Kazuto made eye contact with him, he saw nothing welcoming.

"Doctor Fletcher," Hideki greeted, "This is Kazuto Kirigaya. He will be our newest intern here, if the two of you should agree to certain terms."

The Doctor and Kazuto both gave each other a stern look over. Fletcher. An American name for an obviously American man. A pair of wiry spectacles stood perched on the man's nose, something that felt almost unacceptably clich'e. His hair was balding from the center, the gray hairs curling only at the back edges. Lines dug deeply into the skin of Fletcher's forehead, a sign of many hours spent furrowing it in deep and complex thought.

Finally, Fletcher _hmphed_ and adjusted himself in his seat. "I don't understand all the hype you've made about this boy, Yuuki. He looks like he's just made it out of the bird's nest."

"He may but young, but I trust that he has exceptional skill and potential with computers and software," Hideki returned promptly.

Fletcher scrutinized Kazuto a little longer before shrugging. "Please, have a seat."

Kazuto took a chair opposite Fletcher, as far as he could get from the man without actually leaving the room. The doctor did not seem to notice, too preoccupied studying a sheaf of papers that Kazuto was sure concerned himself. Most likely a general outline of his life and a brief background check.

"Well," Fletcher grunted, "Should you accept the terms, Kirigaya-san, you will be accepted as an intern into the World Advancement Software Programming division, or the WASP group, if you will. You will be mentored first by minor workers who have been around longer than you, and if you show promise you may be able to work side by side with our more prestigious scientists. Now, if you would..."

What followed was a flurry of papers to sign and contracts to read that Kazuto did not even bother trying to comprehend. Otherwise he'd be there for a year. After scrawling his signature onto a final blank line, Fletcher nodded in satisfaction and shuffled up all the papers before putting them away. Leaning back in his chair, Kazuto sighed in relief; so the worst was nearly over.

Or just about to begin, when he looked out the window, and his blood ran ice cold.

He'd seen him just out of the corner of his eye, a slight figure dressed darkly walking by the transparent windows of the meeting room. Turning his head, Kazuto made it just in time to see a man dressed in a black suit walk purposefully past. But it was not the fact that this man was the President of Complexity that caught him off guard (he did not even know the man's face), but rather the structure of the lower half of his face.

Kazuto knew that face. He knew it very well, or at least that part of it. He'd first seen it on a day where death had been rather prevalent, only to be revealed that it had all been a plot to capture the true evildoer. A face half-hidden by the reach of a dark cloak, wiry hands reaching out to wield a butcher knife of a weapon, and a reputation to fear with your life.

In Aincrad, that face had been responsible for the deaths of many, many people.

Fuzen's head turned a fraction then, and for one terrifying moment their eyes met. Black on unfathomable black. And then he was gone, around the corner and away, but leaving Kazuto branded with the image of the smirk he'd allowed before disappearing.

But then he thought about it.

_Nah. I'm seeing things,_ Kazuto thought as he reached out to numbly shake Fletcher's hand.

_That couldn't possibly be him._

Kazuto could not have been more wrong.

Meanwhile, in an empty office belonging to a certain President, the computer monitor had been left on and running, casting a sick white glow across the room.

What was displayed on the screen, however, was by far more important.

The first thing one would notice was the picture. At the top right, a photo of a young girl with long, wild hair, black as night as framing an innocent and happy face. The girl's personal information was displayed alongside the photo, and it read:

NAME: Yui

FUNCTION: Inanimate Object (AI)

AFFILIATIONS: Kirito (The Black Swordsman) Asuna (The Lightning Flash)

NOTES: Exterminate.

* * *

**Please review!~**


	11. Lies, Greed, Misery

**Short Preview: Featuring Yui, the most adorable AI ever.**

* * *

Chapter 11: Lies, Greed, Misery

His arms always made her feel so safe.

The two of them were currently laying comfortably on the couch and Kazuto's home, with the lights off and the television quietly glowing off to the side to keep them company. The shows playing on the screen had long since been ignored by the couple however, in favor of cuddling up close to each other and falling asleep. Asuna had awoken first though, and didn't have the heart to ruin her boyfriend's adorable sleeping face.

Smiling, Asuna gently leaned her head back and turned it to brush her soft cheek agains this nose. She was laying on her side, Kazuto mimicking her position, holding her close to his chest where she could feel his steady heartbeat thudding against her back. It made for a soothing lullaby, which was why Asuna had managed to sleep until this time of day. She still didn't want to wake her partner though, so here she lay, assuming Kazuto was fast asleep.

That was, until she felt his lips on her ear.

Twitching at the unexpected touch, Asuna scoffed and said, "I thought you were asleep."

"I'm a master of deception," Kazuto murmured into her ear, his warm breath tickling the skin there in a way that made Asuna's stomach feel funny. Adjusting his position, he pulled her tighter to him and continued, "Have you been awake long?"

"No, not long."

"Glad," Kazuto replied, still sounding a bit sleepy from his prolonged nap. "You're soft, Asuna," He added seemingly out of nowhere.

Blushing at the compliment, the girl stammered, "Ah...um, thank you."

Asuna felt his lips ghost over the ridge of her ear slowly, deliberately. She just barely managed to keep a squeak from escaping past her lips, but a bit of it still made it out, drawing an amused chuckle from her partner.

"Gosh, Kazu-kun, you're such a tease," Asuna pouted.

"It's one of my many endearing traits," Kazuto laughed before kissing her earlobe and closing the tips of his lips around it gently.

"Ahhhn~" Asuna keened, squirming slightly as an electrical shock traveled through her brain like a tingly feeling, and the funny feeling in her stomach intensified. Now blushing up a storm, the girl panted, "Kazuto..."

"Yes?" Her boyfriend asked simply around her soft, vulnerable flesh, before dragging his tongue about an inch up the outside edge of the ear and blowing on it gently.

"Ahh!" Asuna moaned at last, her knees pressing together desperately to contain herself as one hand involuntarily reached up so she could bite her finger in anticipation. Kazuto hummed in content and rewarded her for her satisfactory reactions by lovingly kissing his way from his mate's cute ears to the exposed skin of her neck, letting his hot tongue sting the veins their for a moment to draw out another involuntary moan. Now squirming aggressively against him, Asuna managed to get her tongue straight for long enough to say,

"Kazu...please...kiss me."

Only a moment later, his lips came to claim hers, relinquishing his hold on her from behind in order to pull Asuna on top of him and mesh their mouths together, tongues and lips slipping among themselves. The girl keened and adjusted herself to straddle him, hips nearly meeting perfectly as she reached up to tangle her fingers between the locks of his messy hair, pulling his mouth even closer.

"God...damn..." Kazuto groaned, caught off guard by how quickly his girlfriend had adapted to the situation without becoming completely flustered. She was starting to learn. "Asuna...I..."

Asuna only moaned incoherently back in response, too lost in that part of one's mind that existed solely for pleasure to form actual words. Not to mention that their tongues were already hopelessly tangled together, preventing any further forms of speech. During the course of their fervent embrace, the place where she straddled him shifted constantly, bringing to the forefront of Asuna's attention concrete proof that her mate was, indeed, aroused. Her heartbeat nearly quadrupled when she felt the strange hardness against the inside of her thigh, but she took it in stride, accepting it as a part of her lover's anatomy.

By this point, hands were straying to places they hadn't been before, heartbeats were overloading, the heat was building, and judgement was beginning to cloud considerably. And the best part was, neither of them had the slightest thought of restraining themselves. It probably would have gone on for a while, too, if Asuna's phone hadn't started to ring.

Kazuto immediately groaned in frustration and paused his movements to allow Asuna to pick it up, but the girl just whined lowly and buried her nose into his neck. "Just ignore it..." She murmured, kissing the vein and making the skin there jump.

Kazuto stole a glance at the caller ID on the phone.

"Asuna, it's your mom."

She paused.

Then groaned in frustration before leaning over to swipe the device off the floor and answer it. "Yes, mama? What? The news? Why now? Well, alright..."

Reaching for the remote, she flipped the channel till it landed on a news station.

The headline read, BREAKING NEWS: SWORD ART ONLINE SERVERS TO BE TERMINATED

Only one thought crossed their minds.

_Yui..._

* * *

The frigid, spiteful wind of the winter cold whipped through the landscape like an endless stampede of frenzied horses. The temperatures were inhumanely low, and the view the area provided was nothing short of distasteful. The very sky was blotted out by the maelstrom of snow flakes, more like miniature icicles, whirled across the atmosphere above. There was nothing but white, about and before, left and right, all consuming. Nothing could escape from it.

Except for Yui, who was immune to the cold and the sights.

A fact that she loathed with all her might.

Reaching down, the small girl dug her hand into the layer of freshly laid ice thrown there by the unforgiving wind. She was currently sitting atop a small hill formed by the blizzard raging around her, essentially a massive mound of ice which had accumulated over time to form into this. Gritting her teeth in frustration, the AI curled her fingers inside the small pile of snow she'd dug up to encase her hand, trying desperately the feel the pain such a drastic level of cold brought. But nothing penetrated her consciousness but a general feeling of coolness, but not the cruel bite of frost that Yui had hoped for, yearned for.

Sighing, she pulled her hand out of the snow and held it up before her, forced to squint to make out the small appendage in the dim light of the snow-covered sky. There was no moon in the sky of the one-hundred floor of Aincrad, and neither was there a sun. No, the Red Ruby Castle lying in the distance provided all the light this floor had; a fortress crafted entirely of an indestructible form of the precious gemstone, gleaming with the force of a thousand suns. The reach of its radiance spanned countless miles and lit up an unfathomable expanse without the aid of any astronomical bodies, but there were still areas of the floor it failed to illuminate. Namely, the area Yui had chosen to dwell in today.

Continuing to squint at her hand, Yui began to closely examine the unscathed fingers. No matter how much punishment she could put that appendage and its five fingers through, nothing could harm it. No matter how many strikes from a boss it took or how long it was exposed to a blizzard akin to the one currently screaming across the landscape, it would emerge undeterred. The reason for this, however, was something Yui did not feel she had to right to object to; after all, the fall of Kayaba Akihiko had brought about this change.

Ever since Kazuto Kirigaya, alias Kirito or the Black Swordsman, had miraculously cleared Sword Art Online, the only power Yui was accountable to answer to was the Cardinal System of Aincrad. However, her father's conversion of Yui's purpose to an Inanimate Object had saved her from most of Cardinal's persecutions against her as an alien entity in the game, and thus she was safe. This made her an essentially invincible element in Aincrad, something that should not exist in any game. Not that Yui harbored any malicious intents, but certain factions were inclined to think negatively towards the very idea regardless. Not to mention, since only a pitifully meager amount of non NPC players remained after the defeat of Kayaba Akihiko, her original purpose as an emotional monitor was also out of the question. So here she was, sitting atop a frozen hill in the one hundredth floor, a floor no one could or ever would reach, simply because she could.

Although her avatar had initially been left within the ALO universe once her parents had been forced to leave behind the world of VR for an extended period, Yui had soon discovered she wielded the ability to travel between the worlds. After all, the floating castle existed within the world of ALfheim. She still preferred her SAO form to this day, as she had more absolute control here. If she wished to fly, she could. No wings needed.

"Papa...Mama..." Yui murmured softly, laying back on the side of the frigid hill, feeling her small body sink an inch or so into the freshly compacted snow. As the turbulence around her pulled the girl's hair every which way, Yui's eyes remained fixated on her hand, as if her life depended on it. Then she frowned again and let it drop to the snow.

Of course, she knew why her parents were not around anymore. As she existed within Kirito's NerveGear, she'd felt the massive amounts of brain damage her father was sustaining after such a ridiculously extended time in-game. Despite being an AI, it was well within Yui's knowledge that such injuries would require extensive medical attention, as well as some form of abstinence. The underuse, or complete lack of use, of her father's NerveGear only furthered her suspicions, serving to confirm them. And if Kirito had undergone such suffering, her mother would have as well. Yui had no idea how long her parents would be forced to abstain from VR, but she fervently wished that the time would finally come where they would don the specs once more and come to see their lonely daughter.

Briefly, and for the thousandth time, Yui wondered what her parents looked like now. Her memories of their faces were of over eight months ago, and the girl was sure their appearances would have changed. Did Aincrad's settings still display players with their true IRL appearances? She wasn't sure. It had already occurred to Yui that her worries were both fruitless and too mature for her age. Not many bit-sized AI's thought about such things. Her mental functioning was that of a child, after all. But there was some sort of emptiness inside of Yui's heart that had formed over months of long abandonment, a hole that had, over time, spawned a sort of maturity totally uncharacteristic of her.

Sitting up in the snow, Yui looked to her right, at the faint crimson glow of the Red Ruby Castle in the far distance. _A child artificial intelligence worrying about her parents like a concerned mother,_ she thought drily. _How lop-sided._ Just another sign of the fact that no matter how much she yearned to meet her parents, no matter how much she tried to act like a normal child, in the end she was an artificial intelligence, a product of science, created for a greater purpose, a _fake._

Groaning, Yui turned and laid on her belly, shoving her face into the snow to block everything out. She had been incredibly thankful to Kirito and Asuna for allowing her the chance to be like an actual human being, a part of a family that very much loved each other. Family. Love. Human. Things she could pretend to have but would never truly fathom. Yui knew she was part of a family, but it wasn't one that was socially accepted or even known of. She loved her parents, and they loved her, but it was a sort of taboo relationship, something not generally approved of, like loving an AI was a crime against humanity.

Humanity.

Something she was not.

_I wanna heal, I wanna feel _

_What I thought was never real_

_I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long_

Yui could recall a time, some days ago, when she'd awoken from a terrible nightmare and was forced to run crying to the room of the caretaker of an inn she frequented. In the nightmare her parents had started a family of their own, and over time had forgotten about her, never returning to visit her, deciding that her very existence was something best left untouched. Yui had been forced to watch, somehow restrained from moving or speaking, as they gave birth to a new daughter, a faceless daughter, a replacement daughter. An accepted daughter.

A human daughter.

Despite being designed for a wholly video-game oriented environment, Yui had been programmed to start out with plenty of information about the real world in order to be able to imitate the actions of players and relate with them, such as on topics only concerning the real world. Due to this, she was well aware that a couple claiming to have a daughter who lived in a virtual reality was something that would could quite an uproar. Being the cause of grief for her parents was the last thing Yui wanted, but it made her sick every time to think that perhaps she was somehow holding them back from enjoying life to the fullest.

When her father had valiantly made a solo attempt to clear the World Tree mission by taken on hundreds of thousands of guardians in ALO, he had been slain. Then, as his soul lay burning, hovering, in the air, Yui had heard his thoughts. He'd scoffed at himself quietly, thinking, _I thought I could overcome the rules of the game. I thought I could do anything I wanted._

_But in the end, my strength is simple numbers and status effects._

"I guess I understand what you mean, Papa," Yui murmured to herself as the frigid winds curled around her relentlessly. "Thought I could be a human...but just a product of science..."

_I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real_

_I wanna find something I've wanted all along_

_Somewhere I belong..._

* * *

Once the SAO crisis had been resolved and her parents' absence became prominent, Yui had initiate intended to take up permanent residence within their home deep within the forests of the twenty-second floor. This she did, but soon enough a sense of boredom and a longing for change seized the young girl's heart. The NPCs that lived around the lake were good and kind people, but she wanted something more, something more worth her while.

This resulted in what ended with a full tour of all one hundred floors of the floating castle, utilizing her Admin authority to appear anywhere however she pleased. It gave her mind a sort of occupation, during the long lonely months of waiting, to see the sights Aincrad had to offer when it wasn't about to kill you. Frozen tundras lifeless since the day they'd been programmed, and scorching deserts where the sun ruled all and night was nonexistent. A world consisting entirely of ocean, with no speck of land to be found safe for a single, central island. A floor covered with carnivorous plants. A world of massive animals and miniature towns.

Due to the extent of her travels, Yui often felt the need to stop by somewhere safe when night fell. Sure, she had Admin authority, but her programming still forced her to seek shelter at certain times, or fall victim to the need for sleep outside. Being ambushed by a monster in the dead of night was not the worst possible thing that could happen to her, but it was certainly an annoyance to be avoided. This meant staying at inns, and Yui tended to frequent one situated on the seventy seventh floor. The advanced floor level meant the rooms themselves were of good quality, and since the more difficult floors tended to be more interesting to explore, its situation was of great convenience.

Two weeks after her foray to the final floor of the floating castle, Yui woke up in her usual cot at her favorite inn, The Wandering Traveler. It was owned by an NPC named Greta, a middle-aged looking woman with streaks of grey beginning to show up in her hair. During the months she had wandered Aincrad and made various acquaintances, it had been brought to Yui's attention that age was something that did not exist here. Such a fact had led to some rather awkward conversations with Greta, as the woman often spoke of the days when she was young and beautiful, a time that never existed, only pre-programmed to be believed. But the caretaker was a good person who provided intriguing discourse, so Yui kept coming back.

It was a beautiful day outside when Yui sleepily pushed open the door to her room and shuffled slowly down the hall in a long nightgown that trailed behind her for six inches. The well-trod wooden planks of the inn's flooring creaked gently beneath her feet as she made her way through, signaling that they had endured their own use over time, but had seen a rather small amount of trampling as of late.

Although all revenue-generating establishments remained open since the clearing of the game, there was obviously a stunning lack of players to provide said revenue, leading to the formation of several "ghost towns" throughout the floors, where even the NPCs tended to stay inside rather than dwell the streets, as their primary purpose of mingling with the players was impossible to achieve. While Yui was unaware of the nine-month ban from VR for all SAO victims, she was fully aware that the players of ALO were totally capable of entering the floating castle. But she knew that the place was a sort of taboo now, a place where bad things happened and only the strong survived. Misconceptions spawned through evil.

Greta was cooking up breakfast in the kitchen behind the counter of the general cafeteria, the aroma spreading throughout the entire establishment, despite the fact that cooking in SAO was performed through movements with cutlery. Crossing through the deserted tables of the cafeteria, Yui pushed open the doors to the kitchen and joined the caretaker at the island.

"_Ohayo,_" The aged women called over her shoulder, not even needing to look to know who it was. After all, no one else stayed here. "I hope you feel like pancakes."

"Isn't that the only thing on your menu anyway?" Yui asked tiredly, rubbing at her eyes with tiny fists.

Great chuckled. "Yet you always wolf it down like it's your last meal."

Ten minutes later, Yui was sitting eagerly at one of the tables as Greta walked over with a steaming plate of freshly baked pancakes. The woman set the plate before her young charge and wished her a good meal, before leaving to perform the duties her internal clock required her to do.

Licking her lips in anticipation, Yui picked up her utensils and began to dig in. Of course, there was no real need for her to eat anything, but it was just a drive she had. Part of being an AI.

"Mmmn," The girl sighed as the soft, syrup coated warmth of the pancake passed her lips and was swiftly pulled down the throat in order fit in more of its brethren. Keeping up the pace, she proceeded to tear the breakfast apart like, quote, "it was her last meal."

Her pace of consumption slowed, however, when she recalled her own words: "Isn't that the only thing on your menu anyway?"

Well, for Yui, there wasn't. Besides pancakes, Greta also was able to offer spicy sandwiches, but those were a bit too emotionally painful for her to eat.

Besides, they tasted nasty in comparison to her mother's.

* * *

Today, Yui decided she wanted to revisit one of the lower floors in Aincrad; the 47th, home of the legendary Pneuma Flower, which had regrown and stood just as proudly as it had when Kirito and Silica had plucked it years ago. The usual sweeping expanse of beautiful flowers laid around it, covering the entire floor with their unique fragrance, the scent of millions and millions of flowers mixed together to form a perfume only nature could produce.

After materializing in the portal and walking through the initial entrance to the Flower Garden, Yui teleported to her favorite spot in the entire floor. It was hill, much like the frigid one within the domain of the Red Ruby Castle, only this one was covered with short, smooth grasses that were shaded by the protective arms of a sakura tree. A gentle wind kissed the landscape every now and then, shaking free a few of the pink petals to drift downwards in a prolonged spiral that Yui spent her time watching.

Upon reaching the spot, she laid down under the shade and closed her eyes, planning on resuming her sleep after that wonderful pancake. Here she could relax. Here she could just-

The small flower bulbs sprouting around her withered and died.

Immediately attentive, Yui sat up without the strength of her arms and cast about the view before her. Meanwhile, the plants growing beside her continued to perish, turning from a lush green to a sick, infected yellow, before finally falling into a black shade that could only connote instant death. The wave of expiration soon reached the roots of the cherry blossom, the tree itself groaning in pain as its roots began to rot on the spot.

Looking about wildly, Yui scrambled to her feet to escape from the wave of devastation like she was afraid it would affect her as well. Standing tall, she tried to slow her breathing. If it was a monster, she could deal with it handily. But something like this was unprecedented. Also, deep inside her gut, Yui felt a very human emotion seize her within.

Fear. An irrational fear of the unknown.

And at last, its source made an appearance.

At first all Yui could see was the top of his head as he made his way up to hill, taking his time as if without a care in the world. Once his entire skull was within view, she could see that it was well hidden by a dark cloak and hood, the cuffs and rims of the garb fluttering ominously about that man's figure despite the lack of wind. A dark essence seemed to emanate from him, like a sickness that escaped like sweat from his pores, and it became apparent to Yui that this was the source of the death around her.

The man stopped his ascent just before he reached the crest of the hill, and looked up at her, showing everything but his eyes and brow to the small girl. Above, the clouds began to twist in agony and roil together, moving to blot out the sun. The brightness of the day darkened considerably, and the temperature went with it, bringing a foreboding chill to the air. Yui narrowed her eyes and stared back hard at this mysterious intruder, mentally preparing to summon a form of self-defense if need be. She could materialize the strongest weapon in the game and slay this killer in three seconds, if it came to that.

Assuming he wasn't human, in which case, she probably would not be able to end his life.

The stalemate between them continued for a longer while, during which time the entire hill was reduced to a lifeless corpse of earth. All of the vivid, lush grass was now a lake of limp, blackened weeds, and every last leaf of the sakura tree had similarly suffered and disintegrated, leaving the branches bare and black as night. Blinking her gaze towards the loss for just a moment, she decided to be the first to speak.

"What do you want?"

The dead grass crunched underneath the stranger's feet as he grinned and took one step forward.

"I wish," He said in a deep, exotic voice, "To hold a conversation with you."

Yui narrowed her eyes at him.

"And what if I don't want to talk?"

The stranger's smile grew wider as he made his way all the way up the side of the hill and stood not three feet from her, grinning like a stupidly happy jackal. Yui spared a moment to throw a cursory glance at the stranger's HUD, and the name she read above the health bar made her heartbeat accelerate further.

"Don't you worry, little girl. I'm sure the topic of my discussion will interest you greatly," PoH said degradingly. "Care to take a listen?"

_PoH. Former leader of the guild Laughing Coffin. Primary purpose: to kill opposing players indiscriminately. Known members: PoH, Johnny Black. Notes: All members are red players. Guild was broken up by the forces of the Divine Dragon Alliance and the Knights of Blood, with the assistance of the Black Swordsman. Thirty lives lost in-combat._

All of this information stormed through Yui's brain the moment she recognized the man and his hooded features. She'd never laid eyes on him personally before, but her father's memories and her wire into the game provided all the insight and recognition she needed.

"PoH," Yui voiced bluntly. A rather stark reply coming from someone who didn't look past eight years old, but this was a more mature Yui, someone who had had months to reflect. "Tell me then, what do you want? And while you're at it, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, well..." PoH began, "It concerns your parents."

The world held its breath.

"Go on," Yui said softly.

Smirking to himself, the red player explained, "If you ask me, young lady, it seems that the two of them are about to run into some rather unsavory course of events."

The flame of childish defiance rearing up inside of her, Yui clenched her fists and demanded, "Are you threatening my parents?"

"Yes," PoH said bluntly, and without hesitation. "I also have every means to carry out my threat, and I intend to, so listen carefully. Don't you want to know exactly how they will suffer?"

Gritting her teeth, the AI said nothing.

"Good. Now, first it will be necessary for you to understand my involvement with them outside of the virtual reality. You see, young lady, I am a very powerful man. Trillions of dollars and scores of men follow my every command. By utilizing my influence, I seem to have managed to buy the rights to the maintenance of the SAO servers."

The in-game criminal tilted his head just slightly at the girl's twisted expression and asked, "Curious yet? Thought as much. This world belongs to me now, just as it should. Your parents did a very cruel thing to me, young lady. They destroyed my dream of an undefeatable criminal empire. To control all of Aincrad through fear and the threat of death...that was my goal. And what did your petty father and mother do to that dream? Crushed it under their feet like a bug in the dust. I am not a bug."

"Then you're the dust," Yui scoffed back at him.

PoH snorted. "Such nerve for someone whose death is so near."

"Do you think you could kill me now?"

"Of course not. I also have total administrative power due to my new ownership of the servers, but going toe-to-toe with you would only result in a draw. Now of course, if someone were to delete the entire game from the outside, that would be completely different, wouldn't it?"

The AI's face paled at those last words, and her heartbeat went from overdrive to still.

"You can't be serious."

_I want to see you choke on the lies_

_Swallow up your greed_

"But I am," PoH replied, turning away, although failing to disguise the fact that his words dripped with malice. "I am going to end you, and your existence, along with the rest of this wretched world that somehow failed to give me what I wanted, despite its lack of limitations. And I'm going to make them watch, both of them, when I destroy the only thing they have left to hold dear within the virtual reality. I am going to break them. Bend their wills. And once their resolve has been shattered, I will leave them be. But for that to happen, you will have to die."

_Suffer all alone in your misery,_

_Choke on the lies, _

_Swallow up your greed,_

_Suffer all alone in your misery_

* * *

**Please review if you have anything to say! ^_^ Do you guys think Yui was too OOC? Feedback is much appreciated.**


	12. The Human Heart

Chapter 12: The Human Heart

_Friben Village - Aincrad, 8th Floor_

When Silica saw the orphanage in the distance, she grinned and picked up her pace to reach her destination sooner.

It was the height of winter, as the seasonal calendar of the eighth floor dictated, characterized by the fluffy flakes of snow drifting like specks of cotton from the black night sky. The dragon tamer was just returning from an exploration of the town, as the main clearers had passed through the floor a week or two ago, which usually meant that the area was relatively safe to populate. She'd heard rumors of monsters being able to attack settlements in the beginning stages of clearing floors, and while such talk was yet to be totally confirmed, she would be taking no chances.

Upon realizing that the eighth floor was largely comprised of a town, however, Silica had been immensely relieved. It certainly beat the terrors of the seventh floor, home to the infamous Monster Arena, where players were pit themselves in an all-out survival challenge against the toughest foes the first ten floors had to offer. Such a gamble did, of course, also place a danger upon one's life, and the challenges of the Arena claimed ten lives before the players figured it better to move on altogether.

A sudden movement inside her coat cut Silica out of her reverie. Looking down she saw Pina squirming uncomfortably inside the protective warmth of her clothing, obviously annoyed at being restricted so. Shushing her familiar, the beast tamer murmured that they would be inside soon and quickened her pace further. She didn't know if you could die of the cold in this death game, but once again, she would be taking no chances.

The orphanage was situated a ways from the main central body of the town, away from the bustling center where most of the NPCs and human players would congregate on business or simply recreation. One had to crest a short, elongated hill to reach it, and Silica's heart sighed in relief when she crossed the apex of said hill and began the downward decent.

Then her heart finished sighing just in time to leap up into her throat.

Black. The windows of the orphanage were black, striking a startling contrast with the white precipitation coating the roof and earth around it. The stained glass windows that had always reminded the beast tamer of a church were no longer emanating their aura of welcome and warmth, but rather one of desolation and abandonment. Like there was no one home.

She's returned to an empty home.

Silica had never really classified herself as an orphan. She was certainly a child in the eyes of society, both in game and out, and her parents were not present in Aincrad with her. Yes, she did spent a few nights here and there in a bed under the roof of the orphanage, and yes, she was good friends with many of the children who were permanent residents there. Yet there was some sort of difference between herself and them, some sort of unspoken dichotomy, a rift that classified the two of them differently.

The children of the orphanage had only their caretaker, and were wonderful people, but lacked any sort of will to explore the greater world for themselves, content to let others do it for them. They had no one to see but each other when they went out on the town.

Silica on the other hand, had her familiar, the dragon Pina; the small blue lizard-like creature had been in many ways her connection to sanity during the many months, a barrier against the helplessness of their situation which wore down on the human mind. When she was upset, she could take comfort in her companion. There was also Rosalia and her group of hunters, who albeit were far from courteous to her, but they were people she could communicate with. Silica also briefly remembered the numerous men who had proposed to her, all in rather inappropriate and expectant manners. While such behavior from full grown men put her off somewhat, she had smile to think about it.

Yet the human heart requires compatible companionship to survive. Pina was not human, and Rosalia's hunters were far from desirable. The orphans had always been Silica's solution to the lack of amiable human contact in this world, this realm of helplessness and the need the fight for oneself, a place where those who could not fend for themselves were left in the dust. They were like her, placed before the path of adversity but unable to traverse it, except that they could admit their weakness and she preferred not to. Nevertheless, they had provided the human contact she needed.

But now they were gone.

Slowing her running legs once she'd drawn within twenty yards of the abandoned orphanage, Silica walked gingerly across the snow to place a hand on one extinguished window, tracing a finger over the glass that still held a trace of warmth from the people it had held within. She really had no readily available explanation as to why the orphanage had been abandoned; perhaps the NPC had somehow perished, or the orphans themselves had decided to move on to another location, therefore removing the caretaker's cause to exist. Such things happened frequently nowadays. But the beast tamer didn't really care _why_ they had left, but more that they were no longer_ here,_ where she was, with her.

It almost makes forging relationships seem worthless, the beast tamer thought and she let her hand drop limply from its place on the window. Turning, she forced herself to take steps and walk around to the front steps of the building, taking a seat once she'd reached them.

_I thought I could make something last, in this world, where so many things I'd always had are gone._

She watched a fleck of snow hit the concrete steps in front of her and fizzle into nothingness.

_But how can you make something last in a world designed to kill?_

Unzipping her coat, Silica allowed Pina to flutter out of his confinement before leaning against the worn wooden door and sighing in defeat. She didn't have much to do with herself anymore; she'd been planning to sleep here tonight, as she lacked the funds to spend a night in an inn, but now that such a possibility was null she had nowhere it go. It was freezing, too.

Purring delicately, her draconic familiar flapped his wings and hopped into the girl's lap before curling up and trying his best to fall asleep there, the tip of its barbed tail resting like a crown on its head. Silica absently reached down and scratched him behind the ears, staring into the darkness marred only by the white of snow, wondering about nothing in particular.

Deciding she needed to occupy herself, Silica looked down at Pina's fur to search for any knotted ends and was shocked to feel a fat tear plop onto the dragon's back with a soft _plink._ Her familiar blinked his eyes open at the disturbance and reached back to preen himself of the salty contaminant before looking up at the girl with wide, questioning eyes.

Wiping her face furiously, Silica rubbed her thumb along Pina's head in reassurance. "I'm fine, don't worry," She said thickly.

The snow was beginning to fall more heavily now, building up a lasting coating upon the earth, and forcing Silica to scoot backwards under the shelter of the small roof above the steps. A biting wind swept through the air, cutting through her thin garb and inducing a shiver. After crossing her legs and pulling her clothes around her as best she could, the beast tamer leaned her head back on the door and closed her eyes. It looked like she would have to spend the night here. At least she was still within safe-zone boundaries.

She wondered briefly about monsters being able to attack her regardless.

"Are you cold?"

The question was asked so softly and genuinely that she had to respond. Cracking both eyes open, Silica lifted her head and came face to face with another girl, squatting before her with a concerned expression on her face.

"Ah...I..." The beast tamer murmured unsurely, confused at the newcomer's sudden appearance. She should have seen her coming from a mile away...

"You must be, considering this wind," The girl decided for herself. Reaching up, she unwrapped a thick red scarf that had been concealing the lower portion of her face and handed it to her. "Here, take this."

Silica made eye contact with the girl and frowned. Then she reached out and accepted the scarf, coiling it around her own neck. The sudden warmth that seeped its fingers into her skin drew out an involuntary sigh of relief from her now heated throat, bringing a smile to the other girl's lips. After adjusting the scarf to wrap around her familiar as well, Silica looked up and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you."

The girl nodded in acceptance of her gratitude and allowed herself to take a seat by the beast tamer. Crossing her legs in a similar fashion, the mysterious newcomer frowned at the night sky in apparent disappointment.

"There aren't any stars tonight," She said regretfully.

"Huh? Oh...yeah, there aren't," Silica agreed, eyeing the girl from the corner of her eye. Jet black hair framing a round, pale face, and forehead length bangs that split here and there to give of some sort of childish impression, like someone had put great effort into cutting the girl's hair for her, but she had neglected to maintain its appearance. Her eyes were as black as her hair, but they contained some sort of bright light in them, making it seem like they were grayer than they actually were. Her physique suggested that the girl was around Silica's own age, approximately twelve, but it couldn't be said for sure.

"Shame. I love looking at the stars at night," The newcomer murmured quietly, adjusting the collar of her pink sweater. "Because you know they're always going to be there, even during the day when you can't see them, or on nights where the snow blots them out."

"You sound like you've spent a lot of time looking at the sky," Silica commented casually, trying to find out more about this stranger.

"Oh, I have," The girl admitted proudly. "Some people say that I've always got my head in the clouds, but I don't agree with them." She laughed, a high pitched sound that was full of youthful mirth. But then she paused.

"Or at least, I think I don't," She said with an edge of uncertainty in her voice. "I don't really remember. I like to think that I'm knowledgeable about many different things, but it's more because I've been taught rather than because I have experience."

"That so?"

"Yeah. And sometimes, I wake up not knowing anything but the very basics, and it's like starting all over again from the beginning. It's awfully frustrating."

"Oh...I...I see," Silica said, nodding in feigned understanding. Turning her head, she looked the girl over one more time. There was a very innocent expression on her face at the moment, paired with a smile that spoke of complete obliviousness and an ignorance that some considered a blessing. Yet she couldn't shake the instinct that this girl wasn't ordinary, or even an NPC.

"What's your name?" Silica asked finally, deciding it would be best to get the basics out of the way first. The other girl blinked at the question and turned to look at her, as if she wasn't entirely sure how to answer. Meanwhile, another punishing wind slipped between them, making Silica flinch and pull the scarf tighter around herself and Pina. Wasn't this girl cold at all?

The stranger smiled at her. "I have lots of names, and some of them are really complicated and boring, with lots of numbers in them. So you can call me Yui."

"Yui," Silica repeated, rolling it around. "That's a nice name."

"Don't wear it out," She said with a smile. "I like that one."

A silence enveloped them then, but it was strangely comfortable. Silica closed her eyes and concentrated on enjoying the warmth of the scarf, and was fascinated at how well it did its job. Perhaps it was enchanted with something...

"What happened here?" Yui asked suddenly, leaning her head back to stare up at the roof of the orphanage.

That crushing feeling in her chest again. "I had some friends here," Silica explained. "But they aren't here right now."

"Oh," Yui said simply. "Where are they?"

"I wish I knew."

"Are you sad?"

Silica opened her eyes and looked over at the other girl. Then, quirking an eyebrow, she said, "I'm used to dealing with disappointment."

"That doesn't mean you can't be sad," Yui insisted, crossing her arms indignantly.

Silica smiled. "Yeah, I guess not. How about you, Yui? Where are your friends?"

The small girl grinned cheekily and spread her arms wide to emphasize the enclosure of some great expanse.

"They're everywhere. Or, so I like to think. I don't really know who my friends are. Or where they are, specifically. But I think everyone can be my friend."

"But aren't some people hostile to you?"

"It's my job to connect with people."

A couple more minutes passed undisturbed. Silica had no explanations as to who or what Yui was, despite her inquiries, but something told her it wasn't something she should bother to find out. Like the abandonment of the orphanage, it was just something that had taken place because it was necessary, to fulfill some sort of greater purpose. Or, so she hoped. Silica hadn't wanted to fall asleep alone in the cold, feeling that that would be a bit too pitiful for her pride, as well as her already meager sense of happiness. Now she was beginning to entertain thoughts of asking Yui to spend the night with her on the front steps of an abandoned building when another question occurred to her.

"Yui, how about your family?"

"Huh?" The girl asked, snapped out of some sort of deep thought.

"Your family," Silica repeated. "What about them?"

Yui blinked when she fully processed these words and frowned, sitting back against the door.

"Not so sure," The girl shrugged genuinely. "I'm sure they're out there somewhere, I'm just not sure where."

Silica raised an eyebrow at this. Even most NPCs had some sort of parenting system and family trees, and a small girl like Yui was almost guaranteed to have some sort of older guardian, assuming that she was an NPC. And if she was a player, then she should know...

A glance at the air above Yui's head revealed no health bar or marker, however, and Silica's head began to swim. What was going on here?

"Well, in that case..." The beast tamer thought. "If you were with your family right now, what would you do?"

Yui tilted her head slightly and answered readily. "Tell them that I miss them. And that I love them."

Silica smiled to cover her disbelief. "Is it really that simple?"

"Shouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. It's just that if I had the time, I could probably come up with a thousand things I wish I could do with my family right now."

Yui frowned sadly at such words. "How much do you know about missing people?"

Silica smiled back regretfully.

"All there is."

The beast tamer's heartbeat suddenly spiked when Yui shifted her weight to lean into the girl's side, closing her eyes and burying her nose into the scarf she'd lent her. Pina purred in curiosity and poked his head out of his shelter within the billowy scarf, snaking his way out to greet Yui with a playful nip to the nose. The small girl laughed and poked back at him. The small dragon was soon forced to return to the scarf, however, needing to preserve the fire within its belly.

"It's okay, Silica," Yui said at last, giving her no time to wonder how she knew her name. "It hurts to miss people, and it feel horrible, but there's an upside to it."

Silica glanced down at the small soft girl leaning against her and asked, "What's that?"

Yui smiled and stroked Pina's head.

"When you see them again, it'll feel even more wonderful."

Silica laughed. "You sound like some sort of love guru."

"Oh, I am well versed in the ways of love as well," Yui said seriously, making the dragon tamer chuckle even more.

"But it's so hard to love anything about this world," Silica sighed, resting her chin in her hands to watch the snow flurry about before them. "You just can't do it, when everything's trying to kill you."

"Well, I probably wouldn't kill you."

"Thanks, that really helps."

"You're welcome," Yui said earnestly.

Silica sighed. "Why do I feel like you could be a real piece of work?"

"You wouldn't be wrong to think that," Yui admitted. "I'm not even supposed to be here right now."

"I thought you didn't have anybody around you."

"Yeah, but there's a stupid machine named after an even dumber bird that always bosses me around. It's quite irritating."

"Excuse me?"

Yui sighed. "Nevermind. It'll probably catch me in a little while anyways, so don't worry about it. I'll just be deleted and reset again, and I'll know that I did something bad, but I won't know exactly what it was I did."

Silica rubbed at her eyes and wondered if this was all just some sort of hallucination. "I don't follow."

"Me neither."

Just then, the beast tamer yawned mightily, and Yui smiled affectionately. Standing up, the small girl took a few steps forward before turning around and smiling widely at her.

"Keep the scarf," She said. "It'll keep you warm for a long time, I promise. I've got to go now, the dumb bird's here."

Silica, having given up now on trying to understand Yui's references, asked, "Will I see you again?"

The small girl shrugged.

"If I remember."

And then she was gone.

* * *

**To anyone who doesn't understand how Yui could contact other players despite restrictions from the Cardinal System, here was my idea: Perhaps she actually has spoken and comforted players in depressed states like Silica before, and due to this Yui is aware of the pain and suffering they endured, as it is said in episode twelve (or eleven, I forget). **

**However, the Cardinal System has been responsible for intercepting Yui and deleting her memories every time, and her appearance in the forest in front of Kirito and Asuna was the aftermath of one of these incidents. The only reason why she remembered Kirito and Asuna was because she managed to evade the Cardinal System by becoming an Inanimate Object.**


	13. Thoughts and Repercussions

**I'll try my best to say more things and make these longer in the future. As long as I'm not bullshitting just to achieve length.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Thoughts and Repercussions

The hinges holding the swing together creaked in mild discomfort when Kazuto shifted his weight, the harsh grating sounds giving nothing short of equal displeasure to the man's ears. The swing did not possess the right to complain, he thought, considering it was only holding his weight.

Not the weight of another life.

Reaching up with both hands to grasp the rust-corroded chains, he crossed one ankle over the other while keeping his legs straight, to maintain balance and reduce creaking of the swing. A premature breeze swept hurriedly through the park, almost like was late for some sort of appointment, coming and going like strangers in a crowd, there one moment and gone another.

Letting go of the swing's chains, Kazuto leaned his elbows into the padded skin above his knees before heaving a great sigh. Ever since he and Asuna had been notified about the server shutdowns, there had been a number of mixed reactions to the news. He found it surprising that Asuna's mother would be the one to tip them to the situation, seeing as she seemed to hold no interest in the events of the gaming universe. It concerned her daughter, however, so perhaps there was an incentive in the matter.

He briefly wondered if Yuuki Kyouko knew about Yui, and if so, how much.

Klein had called a few hours afterwards, having read about the shutdown in the paper. The SAO crisis had become of worldwide interest, and the scrutiny from other nations was only beginning to ease, but apparently papers in America still covered it. The older man hadn't really said much to them over the phone, seeming to have called simply because he felt he needed to, as a friend and fellow survivor of the game. Kazuto had thanked him for his concern before hanging up.

Rika had come over the day after, in the morning when the dew was still struggling to leave the petals of the flowers. She'd visited Asuna first to offer her condolences and discuss a few things that all girls kept only between themselves before coming to check up on him. It was their first meeting involving eye to eye contact since the smith had kissed him that one night under the light, and Kazuto had been apprehensive when he found Rika on his doorstep. The girl was surprisingly calm during their exchange, however, and he concluded that she'd either chosen to forget about it or was simply being considerate.

"It's cold outside today," Rika had said as Kazuto poured her some tea in the kitchen. He had decided to invite the girl in for a drink before letting her go back, thinking that turning her away at the door would reflect some sort of hostility. Rika had done something wrong when she'd confessed to him, but he still valued their friendship.

Kazuto turned and observed the chilly gray outside the window before humming in agreement. The weather seemed a bit odd today, considering the time of year.

"Thanks," Rika murmured when he handed her a steaming cup before taking his own seat across the table from her. Kazuto watched the girl's nose disappear behind the rim of the cup and stared at the table afterwards, awaiting her next words.

Rika drained half the cup before setting it down gently, looking a bit rejuvenated for a moment before her eyes focused on his again, dragging the corners of her lips into a frown.

"You look so serious, Kazu-kun," She said softly.

Kazuto blinked and realized that he'd been scrutinizing the wood of the table a bit too intently. Looking up, he replied, "I've felt more serious before."

She had to smile at that. "True, unfortunately. There's never time for you to rest in life, is there?"

"Since two years ago? Of course not."

Rika's grin shrunk a bit as she looked down at the steam rising from her tea. "One crisis after another," she voiced aloud.

He had to agree. His issues with Keiko and Rika's competition over him had been a sort of crisis, although they paled in comparison to his problems with Takashi and now the server shutdowns. It had seemed for a while after his awakening that things were beginning to return to normal. Then his ties to the virtual reality had caught up to him.

"So, how are you feeling, Kazuto?" Rika had asked then, reaching across the table to place a hand over his own. The hairs on the back of the man's neck bristled at the contact, but he kept his composure. "You must be worried for Yui. You haven't seen her in such a long time."

"Too long," He muttered, gripping the edge of the table.

Rika smiled and squeezed his hand. "It's okay to feel sad or angry over this, you know. These things...have to happen sometimes. Nobody can escape it forever."

_Nobody can escape it._

Now, as he watched a few dead sakura petals skip across the sand of the park he sat in, Kazuto still agreed with her. Rika had come to his home for a standard reason, but what she'd said struck home. Nobody evaded pain and loss forever. Nothing would last for an eternity. Everything in the real world was destined to die; so how could the virtual reality, a mere copy, surpass its longevity? After all this time, it had become apparent to Kazuto that everything about VR was pushed to the extreme. Abilities were maxed, and emotions were maxed. Growth and experience would all skyrocket.

But that meant everything would die sooner too.

Asuna, herself, had had to endure a rather brief period of denial before being forced to accept the facts. She'd paced fervently around his home, speculating wildly about how this must be some sort of misunderstanding, that their daughter was safe and sound, that everything was going to be alright. Kazuto had watched her go, his heart aching with every idea she sprouted becoming more and more improbable, knowing that he had to let his lover get this out of her system. Finally, when the girl seemed to have run out of words, he had left his seat to pull Asuna into a tight hug. She'd stood there for a moment, mind still trying to come up with excuses, before breaking into tears and sobbing into his shoulder.

Despite Asuna's grief, it wasn't like Yui would be totally obliterated. Her data would always exist inside Kazuto's NerveGear, so superficially she would always be safe. But without a server operating the game, nobody would be able to use his NerveGear to visit their daughter, to touch her, speak to her, to love her.

It was this medium of separation that broke their hearts so.

Due to her fragile state, Asuna had wanted to stay with him for the day, but for once Kazuto was forced to deny her request. He himself needed time to think, to wonder and ponder, to work out the consequences of this latest development. It was through constant calculation that Kazuto had been able to understand computers and distance himself from his family, as well as survive in Aincrad and ALfheim. Such calculation could be employed to solve a number of issues, but he had to be alone to do it.

And that meant leaving Asuna in her sorrow, no matter how much he didn't want to.

Yet here he sat, having left everything behind for the time being, to think. However, he knew nothing. He didn't know how he felt about this. What did he feel about this? Anger, disgust. Regret. Anger at his misfortune, disgust at its source. Regret at having not done more to ensure Yui's well being. Without her parents, the girl was alone in the vast world of Aincrad. With friends, such a world would seem like a haven. Being alone, however, turned it into hell.

_It isn't fair._ That was all Kazuto could think of at the moment, when it came to putting words to his mixed emotions. _It's simply unfair._ What else could he say? More words of hideous anger would not change his predicament. Yet there was nothing he could do within his power to change the outcome, either. He was stuck, trapped by a stalemate, forced to watch the events play out before his eyes. The servers were due to shut down in exactly a month. What could he do in that time? Steal the server data? It was simply impossible.

_Impossible._ What a word. An idea that would not have existed within Kazuto's vocabulary a year ago, or even half that time. In the past he'd been a reckless soul, his cold calculating side being just enough to keep himself from dying. Kazuto had thought he could do anything within SAO, and when he'd stumbled into ALfheim, he had proceeded to act as if he was unbeatable. Attempting to peak the World Tree alone twice, or making an effort to clear SAO by taking on Kayaba Akihiko without help.

_But in the end, all my strength was only skills and status effects._

Today, his situation felt totally different. Kazuto was no longer trying to free Asuna, but protect her. He had her well being to worry about. Today, he was no longer trying to return home, but leave and become his own person, as an adult. The changes were almost infinite. Rika wasn't just a friend, but someone who harbored love for him. Klein was in America. He barely had any time to spare for Suguha, after all their interactions due to their partnership within ALO. It went on and on. It restricted him, but these were chains that Kazuto knew he wanted to bear. They represented everyone in his life who he loved and cherished, after all.

_I've matured in a way, I guess,_ Kazuto thought with a small smirk. Before, he would have dived into any risky situation without thought. But now, he was forced to assess how his actions would affect his loved ones, those closest to him.

_The world works in such odd ways._

A fresh wave of sakura petals swished across the sky then, flitting across the corner of his eye, present for only a single second.

There one moment, gone another.

* * *

The breeze that had caught Kazuto's cursory attention sped swiftly across the sky, intent on its next destination. It twirled through the air, dancing on the thermals above until it eventually reached the form of a fourteen year old girl lying in the grass. The spots were nice for lying down and sleeping here, when one was lethargic and wished to reflect. Keiko opened her eyes when she felt the grass beneath her, which had grown pointing away from the lake which banked on it, shift. The downy stalks shivered for a moment, causing her enough disturbance to force the beast tamer out of her slumber.

Squinting at the demand of the sun's halo which peeked out from behind the clouds, Keiko stretched luxuriously before falling back onto the grass. There was a small road nearby, one that bikers and hikers frequented when the weather was favorable, but the skies looked horrible today so Keiko knew she would be all alone by the lake with the soft grasses. Glaring at the heavens for a moment, she wondered.

_What was I thinking about, again?_

A moment's consideration provided the answer.

_Oh, right._

Kazuto and Asuna. Or more specifically, how they were feeling. It seemed almost unnatural for her to have to worry about her senpais' emotions or issues. After all, they'd always been the ones caring for her and helping with her problems, specifically Kazuto. He'd always been like a guardian angel, someone she could rely on, when she'd lived two years in a world where everything meant death. Now, in the world of reality, he was someone to respect and be looked up to.

As well as be a recipient of her affections, not that that was going anywhere.

Closing her eyes again, Keiko remembered what she'd been dreaming about before the wind had called her back to the waking realm. Her encounter with Yui, the AI, that one frigid night by the abandoned orphanage. Aincrad had torn a new hole into her heart that night, and Yui had appeared to heal it for the time being, or at least offer comfort and relief. It had been a night much colder than this one, and it was this memory which Keiko employed to ignore most temperature-based discomfort. Nothing would beat the biting chill of that moment.

_Yui, though._ Keiko had only met the girl twice in her life; during their first encounter and through a brief conversation in ALO. The then navigation pixie hadn't seemed to remember her when they had conversed, not that the beast tamer had expected her to. If what the AI had said before was true, she didn't remember anything before meeting her parents.

"_It's awfully frustrating,"_ She'd said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Keiko muttered.

Despite being a child who often acted immaturely at the expense of others, Keiko was actually one to harbor a philosophical side. While it rarely surfaced, she had taken the time to ponder certain aspects of life most others her age wouldn't have, even those who had been a victim of the SAO crisis. For example, she had concluded after all this time that losing things was what hurt a person the most. Being in possession was a feeling that spawned fulfillment and satisfaction, comfort and ease. It made a person take things for granted, so that when such things were destroyed and swept away the world felt desolate and empty.

All ten-thousand of Kayaba Akihiko's victims had felt the loss of freedom, as well as the corroding of the meaning of youth. They couldn't act like kids in a world that demanded maturity for survival. Four thousand of them felt the loss of life itself, as well as their dreams and wishes. The remaining six thousand had experienced the obliteration of their innocence and ignorance, having been forced to fully comprehend the meaning of loss and hopelessness. Keiko had lost her faith in those older than her, with the likes of Rosalia and the many men who proposed to her roaming about. Kazuto and the rest of her friends had worked to restore this, however.

There were a few times when Keiko had stopped to wonder, fruitlessly, what it felt like to be the person who had taken all of these things. Did it fulfill a person? After all, the opposite of loss, taking, must also be the opposite of sadness.

She couldn't say for sure.

After the surviving victims had escaped safely, Keiko had assumed that the extent of Akihiko's influence was at its end. How wrong she had been! After all, here she sat, trying to figure out how the loss of Yui would affect her friends. The scientist had send waves of influence through the lives of scores of human hearts, and they would resonate until their deaths.

_Still, I hope they'll be alright. _In a month or two, her senpais would be leaving for college. While they were all worrying about being separated between schools, Keiko watched knowing they would all be gone from her regardless of where they went. It was depressing, to say the least, but the beast tamer would not let it get to her. In any case, she would hate to see them leave in a depressed state. Once next month came and the servers were shut down, Kazuto and Asuna would be forced to eat up yet another loss. It was almost amazing to Keiko that they hadn't buckled under the pressure of their losses already.

"I don't want them to test their endurance, though..."

Sighing, Keiko flopped over and buried her nose into the grass. It would hugely benefit everybody if Yui were to survive.

_But how to facilitate this?_

She couldn't let them leave in such a wretched state.

There one moment, gone another...

* * *

Yuuki Kyouko's pen clacked softly against the hard wooden surface of the mahogany table when the woman set it down. Having done so, she continued to sort through the sheaf of papers she held in her hands, irritably trying to make sense of it all. Her husband was out for the day yet again, meaning that there was nobody around to pay the bills but her.

Her cellphone was sitting, unlocked and on, at the corner of her eye, blinking steadily as it awaited its use. Kyouko tried her best to resist the urge to reach over and switch it off, not wanting to lose the rhythm of her pen and its scratching across the papers. Her brain forced her to steal cursory glances every ten seconds, however, and eventually she was forced to lean over and pick up the device to turn it off.

She failed in this, however, when she noticed the small heading at the top of the screen. It was a small app that churned the day's news across the screen steadily at all times, and the text galloping across the screen read _BREAKING NEWS_: _Sword Art Onlin servers to be terminated..._

Kyouko sighed and switched off the phone, setting it back down before pinching the bridge of her nose. Things hadn't really been the same since her daughter had returned from the clutches of the virtual reality. The woman had harbored a vision of sorts, a wish, where Asuna would wake up again and they could return to their normal everyday family life. When her daughter's golden irises had finally been exposed to the light of the day, she'd been eager to fulfill this. Everything had changed instead. Suddenly, her daughter was in love with a boy. Suddenly, she had friends her mother had never met before. Suddenly, Asuna was under the protection and attack of people from the virtual reality.

It had become taxing on her heart.

She still didn't quite understand, really, why she'd down what she'd done back then. Kyouko had seen the breaking news broadcast about the shutdown, and her first impulse was to ignore it and speak to nobody regarding it. The woman's second impulse, however, used her responsibility as a mother against herself; didn't her daughter have a right to be notified about this? No matter how much she could disapprove, Kyouko knew Asuna had deep ties to her experiences over the course of two years. The younger girl would occasionally mention the small Artificial Intelligence she considered to be her daughter-of-sorts, a notion that her mother had found and still thought was repulsive.

After all, how could a machine - as that was what this "Yui" was - become her technical grandchild? Asuna knew that she found the very idea of Yui detestable, which was why her daughter rarely mentioned it around her, but Kyouko understood enough about the situation from other sources.

After she'd called to make sure her daughter knew the news, she set the phone down and thought for a moment. So, it seemed like worry for her daughter still overrode her disapproval for her actions. She had been unable to satisfy her own instincts at Asuna's expense.

Now, as she sat staring at the bills, somehow unable to get back to paying them, Kyouko was reminded of what had changed. Firstly, with Asuna's newfound love for Kirigaya. As it was with many things, her primary thought had been that this would cause nothing but trouble. The presence of another man in her daughter's life besides her father would only result in distraction from her important studies, as well as other pursuits in the girl's life. This assumption had proven true at first, when Asuna had started to become more rebellious to her mother's advice and Takashi had made his attack.

Afterwards, however, Kyouko had been forced to accept that perhaps their relationship would not be the iceberg to the titanic, as she'd first thought. Kirigaya came with his own set of complications, but her own husband had, as well (which was not to suggest that she would ever allow the boy to marry her daughter). Time and time again, he had shown that he was dedicated to Asuna's well being and was very much in love with the girl, a notion the woman could appreciate, despite how she acted about it.

Kyouko was also aware that her daughter was growing up. She wouldn't be the dependent teenage she was at one point. She would not longer be the girl who needed advice, but a woman who utilized what advice she had. Her mother was very much aware of this, and when looking at Kirigaya as well, it spawned some doubt as to whether it was so appropriate after all to select her daughter's partner in marriage. The woman had been, finally, forced to accept at least that Asuna was in love with Kirigaya. Would her own heart and conscience allow her to tear the two apart? Would the upsides of selecting a marriage partner override Asuna's inevitable sadness, or was it better to allow their relationship to progress, until it could not possibly be destroyed? These were the questions Kyouko struggled with, every day.

Next, there were her daughter's newfound friends. These were individuals she herself had never met with or interacted with, and as a result she did not trust them. After all, these were people who treated the virtual reality which had snatched her child away as a hobby. Yet despite her misgivings, Kyouko could not ignore how differently Asuna acted around them. Around these people her expression looked more carefree and at ease, more natural.

Happier.

Despite her extreme views, regardless of her countless misgivings, barring her insensitive actions, Asuna's mother really had only one clear goal: to make her daughter happy. It was something she wanted dearly, and something Kirigaya strived for as well, she knew. Their clashes had really just been competitions over who could better provide this happiness. All Kyouko wanted was for her daughter to be happy.

Which was why, she supposed, she had been unable to keep from making that phone call.

_Would I care if Asuna's supposed "daughter" were to die?_ The mother wondered, picking up the bills to get back to working on them. _Thinking logically, Asuna would be quite devastated...but how devastated? Enough to warrant action? Not that there is anything I can do about the situation...goodness. Things have become quite complicated..._

**_Here one moment, gone_**** another...**

* * *

**Please review! My motivation can take serious hits if I feel like nobody has any thoughts on this **

**.**


	14. To Love a Child

Chapter 14: To Love a Child

_Three weeks before server shutdowns_

_Blip. Blip. Blip._

Kazuto watched the second ticker on his digital clock appear and reappear as the time snailed its way by, seemingly intent on dragging at his patience until it turned into anger. He saw the time the clock presented to him, knew it was past one in the morning, but his brain chose not to process this particular information. After all, he had a good reason to be doing this.

In his right hand, the one farthest from the clock, he held his phone. It was set to dial Asuna's number at the flick of a thumb. Squinting at the light shining from the digital clock and the small halo surrounding it, Kazuto tried to will time by more quickly one last time before closing his eyes and giving up.

It had finally been nine months. Well, eight months and three weeks, technically, but that was unimportant. Kazuto knew that the last week of their VR ban was more of a precautionary measure than anything else, and all the scans he had had at the doctors told him that his brain cell levels were more than healthy. Asuna, too. They were ready to reenter the virtual reality. To reenter Aincrad.

To see Yui again.

Their surprise at finding that the servers were to be shut down had been blinding, in a sense. They had been so preoccupied with this new bit of information that they had forgotten about the imminent lifting of their VR ban. The long months of waiting were now past, and they would be able to reunite with their daughter again, albeit for a short amount of time.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

When Kazuto had first come to the previous conclusion, his first instinct had actually been to refrain from seeing Yui. After all, what good would come of it? Spending three weeks with her would not erase the pain of nine months, and once the servers were shut down he would have to miss her again. True, Yui was compatible with any World Seed based game, but that meant constructing the proper algorithms, coding the environments, and basically making sure such an idea would work out without damaging their daughter's data. Letting Yui walk into an unstable game would be potentially catastrophic, and it was a risk Kazuto would not take. He had begun the process of building a game to house Yui, but it would take many more months to complete and make sure it was _safe._

And so he had thought about not going back. Leaving Yui alone for that much longer. But was such an action not selfish? Kazuto knew it would put personal strain on himself to see her for such a brief period, but did the same apply to the girl? Despite her computing and administrative capabilities, he had to remind himself time and time again that their daughter held the mental maturity of a girl her apparent age. Kazuto had never really taken the time to wonder how "old" Yui was, but she for all the world acted exactly like an elementary schooler. During his earlier years when he'd just found out the true identity of Suguha and his aunt, Kazuto and laid on his bed wishing his real parents would someday come to reclaim him. Of course, he knew that this was never going to happen, yet he still poured time into thinking about how wonderful such an encounter would be.

Yui's situation was almost identical, except he wasn't dead. He owed it to her to return.

Blinking that far-away feeling away from his eyes, Kazuto refocused on the clock and realized there were only thirty seconds of waiting left. According to his calculations (and deductive reasonings), it would be safe to establish full dive at exactly 2 AM, eight months and three weeks after the ban had been placed upon them. His eyes watched the second timer at the corner of the digital display progress almost desperately. Then, the timer achieved the thirty second mark and his thumb dialed Asuna's number.

She picked up after the first burr.

"Is it time?"

"Yeah. It's time," Kazuto murmured back. It was late, and everyone else in the house was asleep; not that his aunt didn't know at least vaguely what they were trying to do. "Are you ready?"

"I can dive at any moment," His lover whispered back through the line. Although she wouldn't be able to see it, Kazuto nodded in approval. He took a moment to make sure his specs were properly set before speaking again.

"Alright, let's do this."

"Here we come, Yui..." Her voice trailed off as she hung up the phone.

Kazuto licked his lips a final time before saying the words that would change everything.

"Link start."

He felt the change of the air around him, from still to sighing. The temperature around his skin had altered as well; it was warmer now, the sun was slipping between his equally different clothing. Opening his eyes, Kazuto took in the virtual reality for the first time since his encounter with Takashi, where he had been forced to dive and jeopardize his safety to save his lover.

It was a familiar sight. A forest of modest looking trees, mostly pines and other coniferous variants, sprawling towards the horizon, the endless expanse of green marred only by the massive blue lake laying in the center. The air carried the scent of strawberries, and summer, and morning dew. A slight shift told him that they stood on the stone surface of one of the floor's many portal altars, the links between the realms of Aincrad. A road snaked away from them, made of dirt and beaten down by the feet of other players who wouldn't come again. Their home would be somewhere along the end of that road, Kazuto knew, as well as the spot where they had first met Yui.

"It's been so long, hasn't it?" Asuna said breathlessly at his side, reaching out to twine their fingers together.

Kazuto took another moment to breath in the scent of summer before answer.

"Yeah. Too long."

They walked, then, hand in hand, down the beaten path. Soon the forest reached out to embrace them, and their noses were struck by the smell of the lake's water somewhere far ahead of them, and they followed it to their home nestled among a swath of young pine trees. Yui wasn't anywhere to be seen at the moment, but they took no worry from this, knowing that their daughter would know that they had come for her at last.

The two of them were not required to wait much longer. The air above the cabbage patch suddenly began to writhe, the individual atoms twisting and warping to allow Yui to tear open a hole between the floors and tumble through in her haste. Kazuto saw her small body hit to the floor and was suddenly unable to do anything but breathe, too overwhelmed after all this time of being away from his daughter.

Yui picked herself up off the ground and dusted off the hems of her summer dress before standing and turning to look at them.

A smile that broke their hearts.

"Mama, Papa..."

* * *

An hour later, the three of them were sitting inside their previously uninhabited home on the 22nd floor, enjoying the rays of sunlight streaming in through the window. Kazuto was sitting next to Asuna on the couch, with a passed out Yui sleeping soundly on the latter's lap. Their reunion had been a tearful one, filled with words of love and kisses than promised security, even though they wouldn't be able to provide it. The small girl had spent the last sixty minutes bouncing around the house in a whirlwind of questions, or perhaps it was a maelstrom, as she demanded to know everything which had occurred during their separation. Her parents, overwhelmed by the excessive inquiry, could only smile and provide her with certain key information that wouldn't require any sort of long explanation. This was because they knew she would fall asleep from exhaustion once her questions were equally exhausted, and right they were, as evidenced by the current scene.

It was alright, though, Kazuto decided as he brushed Yui's bangs out of her eyes. They wouldn't be able to share the many years together that he had hoped for, but there was still enough time to let her rest and hear the full story later. He simply couldn't allow himself to feel that their time was inadequate, was all. There was nothing he could do about it, so it was best to be grateful for what he was given.

_What a mature line of thought._

"This is how it should be, huh?" Asuna said affectionately then, staring down at their daughter's sleeping face.

Kazuto followed her gaze before putting her words together. "It should be like this. But it isn't. Or at least, it won't be."

Her eyes softened. "You're right, of course. This isn't going to last forever."

Kazuto twined their fingers together again, drawing his partner's gaze. "Nothing lasts forever," He said. "Best to enjoy what we can, before it's gone."

He instantly regretted his words when tears began to spill from Asuna's eyes. "Oh, god, I'm going to miss her," The girl choked out, reaching up to wipe at her eyes.

Kazuto did it for her instead. "No. Don't cry," He said firmly. "We've endured this for so long, even longer will be nothing. Someday, Asuna, I'll make it so that Yui can be ours forever. It won't be right now, though, and it might not be for a long time, but I can promise you that it will happen."

Asuna stopped sniffling for a moment to turn and smile meekly at him, although out of shame or amusement he was not able to say. Then she leaned over and kissed him, taking away the need for words.

Yui shifted in her lap.

They both looked down to watch the AI awaken. Her eyelids fluttered, and then those dark grey irises greeted the afternoon sun.

"Ohayo," She said sleepily.

"Good morning," Asuna whispered back.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Am I really going to die, Papa?"

His heart skipped a bit. "Who told you that?"

"PoH. He came, and he told me that he would going to destroy me."

Silence.

A silence Asuna apparently had every intention of continuing, because she had clammed up, jaw gone rigid, not open to giving answers.

But Kazuto knew that like everything else, it couldn't last forever.

"I won't lie to you, Yui," He said. "I don't know what PoH has to do with it, but it's true that the SAO servers are going to be shut down in a few weeks. Once that happens, it may be a long while before we can see you again."

He had been worried that she would cry upon hearing this, but the small girl took this information almost in stride, pausing for just a moment to process it before nodding in understanding. "I'll wait here, then, Papa."

Kazuto's heart throbbed to see her accept this so easily. How much hardening had their daughter gone through during his absence? "I'm constructing a game that will be able to harbor your data. I could finish it in a few months, but there would be high risks of bugging that could corrupt your systems. I won't allow that to happen, Yui. I want to make sure you'll be able to live in the game unharmed and unopposed, because I just can't...I can't stand to see you accept everything like this."

She smiled back at him, but it lacked happiness. "I've been accepting things for such a long time, Papa. I'm accustomed to it."

"Don't become too used to it," Asuna ordered softly, reaching out to stroke Yui's hair. "You don't have to take everything that happens to you. It's okay to get angry sometimes, because...such things have to happen sometimes."

Rika had said something very similar to Kazuto, that one unnaturally chilly day when she'd come to comfort him about this very same topic.

"It's something I had to learn, myself," He agreed. "But let's not talk about things like that right now. We still have three weeks left. Let's make it worthwhile."

Yui nodded and smiled up and them.

"Thank you."

The day progressed after that, the subject of their impending re-separation being pushed to the back of their respective minds. Personally, Kazuto half regretted revealing all of his and Asuna's problems to their daughter. She was their child, and she didn't deserve to have to know what was troubling her parents. And he'd been almost disturbed by the look of..._maturity_ in her eyes when he'd revealed the news. The girl had already learned to adapt to adversity, despite her mental age. He regretted putting Yui through that, too. Then again, his whole life seemed to be in a period of metamorphosis at the moment.

He remembered thinking during his first visit to the cemetery dedicated to the dead of Aincrad, that Akihiko's true crime had been his theft of the years and youth of ten thousand. Once he'd returned and managed to retrieve Asuna from ALO, Kazuto had been eager to return to the high school life he had always known. It was going to be better, he'd decided, because it was the life he'd been craving after years in a death game with the addition of friends he had bonded with over time. His expectations had not been totally fulfilled, however, as Kazuto confusedly watched his high school days slip by like ropes of code streaming across a computer screen. Kazuto had always thought as if his life in reality was put on hold while he was stuck in Aincrad, and he would be able to resume it where he had left of once he returned.

Now he would be leaving for Tokyo in a month, and Asuna would be coming with him. He would be leaving his aunt and Sugu behind to lead their own lives, and Klein wouldn't return from America in time to say goodbye. Rika would be gone too, the one person who had been capable of taking of Asuna for him when he alone could not, the one person who had left a part of herself with him with her lips, wherever in the world the blacksmith may go. Keiko's senpais wouldn't be around anymore. If one thought about the last five years of Kazuto's life, it could be visualized as if he had shed the skin of the false identities of his guardians, then shed the skin of innocence in Aincrad, then shed the skin that had been his life in reality.

The sun was dying when he and Asuna left the front door of the house. Yui had already left, saying something about wanting to relate the good news to Greta. They didn't know who that was, but they trusted their daughter to keep herself safe.

"You know, it's a little weird," Kazuto voiced as they took a seat together on the swinging chair on the porch.

"What is?" Asuna asked, leaning against him to brush her nose along his jaw.

He hummed at the contact. "I thought after the memorial, our ties to SAO were going to slowly disappear. But after today, they've only strengthened, though for the better."

Asuna sighed and nuzzled her face into the curve of his neck, as if this would help her reach a quality conclusion.

"I don't know," She replied. "To me, our ties to the virtual reality aren't ever going to fade. As long as people like Yui and Rika or Takashi exist, we aren't ever going to separate ourselves.

"So best make the most of it."

* * *

The heat-control vents of her NerveGear were still humming softly from the openings above Asuna's ears when her eyes fluttered open to greet the gray roof above her. It took Asuna a few more moments to figure out where she was; after nine months, it was a bit difficult to transfer between what was real and what was not. Then it came back to her. She was laying on her bed with the blinds closed, and there was a sort of heavy atmosphere in the room, as if the heat outside was at high levels.

Reaching up, she flicked open the visor to her helmet and pulled the metallic helmet off of her skull, placing the NerveGear on her bedside table slowly and steadily. She noticed that her heart rate felt a little high, once again most likely due to her becoming unaccustomed to full dive conditions. Her body was adjust with time.

Then something occurred to her. _I don't have much time, though._

Breathing in deeply, Asuna swung her legs off the side of the bed and landed on soft feet, padding her way over to one of the blinded windows to pull it open. She had undergone full dive just before two in the morning, and had stayed in Aincrad from late morning to sunset, meaning it must be the height of day at the moment...

Asuna was virtually blinded when a lance of sunlight slipped through the opening she'd made and struck her in the eyes, forcing her to close them. Keeping her pupils shielded, she opened the blinds to the rest of her windows and did not reveal them until they had adjusted to the feeling of the sun against her skin.

Just then, the door opened behind her.

Turning, Asuna saw her mother allowing herself into the room. Their eyes met and the older woman frowned at her, and the younger bit her lip, awaiting a rebuke.

"So I see you've finally roused yourself," She said at last.

"Yes."

"So, did you see Yui?"

Asuna was surprised to hear her mother, who disapproved of the very notion of the girl, referring to her by name. "Yes, I did. I missed her very much," She added, choosing to leave out the fact that Kazuto had been there as well.

Her mother continued eyeing her, and Asuna kept awaiting her scoldings, but they never came.

"Hitomi came about half an hour ago. She wanted to see you, and perhaps go out for a little while. You slept past church, so don't worry about that. Tidy yourself up before you go to meet her."

Blinking, Asuna said, "Thanks," Before her mother nodded and closed the door.

Once she was gone, Asuna shook herself before shuffling over to the bathroom to tidy herself up as her mother had suggested. On the way, she wondered why she hadn't been harshly criticized. After all, she'd stayed up well past midnight to full dive a week before the ban was lifted and meet an artificial intelligence.

Standing in front of the mirror now, Asuna's eyes were drawn to how incredibly messy her hair had gotten over the course of the night. It had spent nearly half a day cooped up within a metallic helmet, and the result was a frizz generated by the heat the NerveGear produced when used. Frowning, she ran some fingers through her locks, wincing when they caught and pulled at the roots. Briefly, she wished that Kazuto was there at the moment to brush her hair for her, knowing the man would take his utmost care not to yank on any of the silky strands.

Ten minutes later, she was presentable (record time for a girl). Stepping into the hall and striding to the main room, Asuna found Hitomi waiting politely in a chair for her arrival. The college student smiled at her when their eyes met.

"Sorry for keeping you," Asuna yawned as she stretched her arms above her head. "I was...sleeping."

"Were you, now?" Hitomi asked, with that wry smile she always wore that somehow manage to make everything into a sexual innuendo. "You've overslept quite a bit, Asuna-chan. Didn't know you were the type."

"Me neither."

"In any case," Hitomi continued, "Let's go out for some coffee, yeah? You really look like you've just gotten out of bed. My treat."

Asuna smiled gratefully at the offer. "Thanks, that sounds great. We can go right now."

* * *

Asuna blinked in surprise when a stray sakura petal danced across the wind to land gracefully in the center of her cup, as if by fate. After recovering from this, she smiled thoughtfully as she watched the heart pink petal send ripples across the pure black surface of her coffee, wondering if it would continue to float or if it would sink to the bottom, consumed by the darkness.

Then a pair of fingers reached in to pluck the sakura out and toss it back into the wind. "I bought that so you could drink it, not start a garden," Hitomi quipped as she leaned back in her seat to down the rest of her own drink.

The younger girl watched the petal until it was gone before looking back at the college student. "I was almost done with it, anyway."

"_Be_ done with it," Hitomi replied back with lightning wit. "Luck doesn't favor those who leave things unfinished."

"Yes, sensei."

"Anytime, kid."

Hitomi brought her cup up to her nose to sniff curiously at it for a moment before setting it down. "Anyways, I didn't invite you to coffee just for idle chat, regardless of how much I'd like that. Your mother requested something of me."

On guard immediately.

Stirring what was left of her drink, Asuna stared down at the swirling liquid and asked casually, "What is it?"

Hitomi seemed almost to smirk at the obvious attempt at nonchalance. "She had an..._idea,_ I guess you could say, concerning your future in college, but felt that it would be wrong for her to talk to you about it herself and ask me to do it. Apparently under the assumption that you would take it better from me."

Asuna began downing the rest of her coffee, using her eyes to convey the message _Just get to the point already._

Hitomi decided to indulge her junior, as well as her own urge to let the ball drop as soon as possible.

"She thinks you and Kazuto should live together during college."

Asuna's nose flooded with coffee.

Hitomi allowed herself then to bust out laughing as she watched the younger girl desperately wipe away the black stuff from her face while simultaneously trying to force the coffee swishing about in her nasal cavities into her stomach. And she didn't stop laughing, either, until Asuna had at least gained some of her breath back, by which time Hitomi had totally lost hers.

"Oh, I can tell I'm going to have a lot of fun with you in college, Asuna," She sighed.

"That's not important right now!" The girl yelled, drawing attention from the other tables of the cafe. "What do you mean, _live together?_"

"You see, this is why your mom didn't want to broach the topic herself. She'd probably have a seizure if you got coffee all over one of her impeccable suits."

"That isn't funny. Now, spill."

Hitomi chuckled again. "She expects you and Kazuto to be responsible for paying bills and whatnot, assuming you go along with the idea. Apparently, she isn't so against your relationship anymore, and it would teach important things to you two about living the adult life."

"Is the adult life really so packed with adversity?"

"It is, trust me."

"B-But," Asuna rebutted, trying to find something to say against this. "That's what...like, _married_ couples do! Or at least people in a very serious relationship!"

"But isn't your relationship with Kazuto serious?" Hitomi countered. "You've known him for years now and even I know you have absolutely zero interest in other men. Nobody would be able to understand you but someone who's experienced that death game as well, and I'll also say that most of the guys who play such games to begin with aren't all that attractive. How many handsome men do you find inside a VRMMO?

When Asuna's expression remained stubborn, Hitomi sighed in exasperation. "Look, I'm not forcing anything on you," She amended. "It's not even my idea, though I agree with it. The final decision will be yours, but give it some serious thought, okay? You've seemed really preoccupied with..._otherworldly_ things lately, and it might be healthy to worry about your earthly concerns every now and then. Just a thought."

"Otherworldly...I guess you could say that." _Yui..._

_"_Alright then. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the hospital. My break ended an hour ago."

* * *

**Reviews fuel my desire to write. Give and take, yeah?**


	15. What's In a Name?

Chapter 15: What's In a Name?

The oil-finished surface of the tablet slicked the pads of Kazuto's fingers when he swiped with the intention of turning a page, eyes scanning the animation of the supposed paper's passing. He supposed he should be grateful. His high school was rather unrestrained in regards to its budget, and the principal was always looking for new ways to breathe innovation of sorts into her classrooms, resulting in the availability of such tablets. However, there were times when Kazuto wished they could use actual textbooks in class. Tablets were enormously convenient in comparison, true, but there was something borderline surreal about being able to absorb oneself inside of an inch and a half thick pile of dead plant matter.

Perhaps his word choice had been too untactful just then.

But really, it wasn't like such an odd train of thought was unwarranted. After all, his mind was still dominated by one primary topic: Yui.

Taking his fingers away from the virtual text displayed on the tablet, Kazuto rubbed the pads of skin together, contemplating the sensation of the screen's slickness. If Yui were sitting beside him right now, would she understand what he was reading? Certainly, she knew what books were and what purpose they were meant to fulfill, but he wondered if the small girl would find it within her capacity to appreciate literature. If he were to pull any given volume from a college library and placed it before his daughter, the AI would probably be able to list the book's characters, themes, personal background, and message. But would she be able to understand the human side of the novel, the part of the story that was meant to reach out and touch the hearts of its readers? Would Yui even know to expect that?

_She's a preter-human trying to digress._

Kazuto would be lying if he said that he did not wish some changes for his daughter. By default, he loved and adored her as she was; with all the natural clumsiness, analytical nature, and awkwardness that made up Yui. However, there had been times where she had acted too much like the machine which had authorized her creation to begin with, forcing Kazuto to wonder how Yui would be like if she could truly empathize with human beings, as she wished to. If she could relate to them on a symbiotic and personal level, as she wished to.

_She would probably be the same, just a lot more innocent._

_And infinitely less accepting of the world's cruelty._

It had unnerved him, really, to see her accept the server shutdowns so readily. Kazuto knew in his heart that Yui wished to be with them, and the feeling was mutual. So why force oneself to act so passive? Of course, Kazuto knew the answer. Sometimes, when one has hurt so badly it threatens to conquer rationale, it is best to close off all outlets of emotion.

It almost disgusted him that Yui was forced to mature enough to be capable of this. Yui should have been able to enjoy the obliviousness and ignorance youth brought. Despite her origins, Kazuto felt that she at least deserved this, to know the assumptions and prejudices being a young person caused, to develop her own opinions and generalizations, to become all the more human.

Suddenly, he chuckled under his breath. This situation felt all too familiar. He had experienced it for a time with Asuna's mother, after all. Together, they had clashed over who could best provide for Asuna's well being. Now, he was fighting for Yui's happiness. But who was he fighting? The inevitable.

_I'll die before the odds are ever stacked in my favor._

"Kirigaya-san?"

Looking up, he realized that the teacher was staring at him, along with the rest of the class. Apparently he had been called upon, but was too zoned out to notice. Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm sorry sensei. I didn't hear you."

The teacher smiled sympathetically. "That's alright, Kazuto. Please read lines 114-130 for us, please."

Glancing down at the sleeping tablet in his hands, Kazuto awoke the device and read aloud:

_What makes thee depress'd so?_

_Only in winter's unforgiving grip_

_Should a man be so perilously underwhelming._

_Tell your master, what is it which ails thee so? Is it wealth? Or perhaps love?_

_There is a myriad of conundrums within a man to have resurface._

_Though of them all, grief must be the worst._

_A fire within one's stomach which freezes thee,_

_As if in a form of painful irony_

_For death's but a jester laughing behind his mask,_

_Faceless, formless, flitting about indiscriminate,_

_Bringing controversy among the truthful_

_And betrayal among love._

_So speak to thy master, young servant;_

_And tell me what ails thee so_

_Your watcher shall pay heed_

_With patient ears attending._

He almost cursed when his voice wobbled a bit at the end, because it was like the passage was mocking him indirectly. Death but a jester? Death was not indiscriminate. It always struck where it hurt the most.

The bell rang soon after, and the class was excused. Kazuto took his time putting his things into his bag, not wanting to deal with the traffic the hastier students were bound to initiate. Seeing out of the corner of his eye that the room was beginning to empty somewhat, he shouldered his things to make his own egress when a voice reached out to stop him.

"K-Kazuto-san?"

Turning, he saw Narumi standing behind him, one wrist held insecurely by the other behind the girl's back. Briefly, he remembered the cobalt-eyed girl's heated argument with Rika many months ago. She hadn't really attempted to converse again after that incident, perhaps too irritated with Rika's interference to even bother anymore.

"Yes?"

Her blue eyes disappeared behind her lids for just a moment, as if she was surprised to get a response. Working her mouth for a moment, Narumi said,

"I was just wondering...if you were okay, Kazuto-san."

_Ah, of course,_ Kazuto thought drily when he processed her words. He was glad Narumi was the one asking him this, instead of any of his close friends. After all, what would he be able to tell Rika or Asuna or Keiko? That he was fine? Of course he wasn't. Kazuto would never be able to lie about something his friend's understood just as well as him. But Narumi largely did not understand what she spoke of.

So he could lie to her.

Smiling easily, he replied, "I feel fine. Why do you ask?"

Another blink. "It's just..." She began. "I heard, about your child stuck inside SAO, and I just thought you must be very worried..."

Not giving her enough time to say more and give him more things to think about, Kazuto sighed, "Well, I'm used to it. Dealing with these things, I mean."

Narumi frowned at this, not that he had expected the girl to react differently. After all, she didn't understand what his implications were.

Then she laughed, albeit awkwardly. "This might sound really rude or insensitive to you, Kazuto-san...but, I don't want you to bottle up your emotions."

"Hm?"

"I...don't know too much about you," Narumi admitted with regret. "I wanted to change that, but because of certain reasons, I was unable to. So I just watched, and observed, and tried to figure out what kind of a person you really were, how you think. Things like that. After a while, I kind of came up with something."

"And what is that?"

Narumi shrugged and said, "I thought, maybe he's the kind of person to try and take all the hits life dishes out, and never let anybody else help him out. People like that usually won't let themselves show how frustrated they really are, right? I just thought that, and I supposed I felt a little worried afterwards..."

_She really is pretty,_ Kazuto thought, though he noted this rather blandly. Superficially, Narumi was attractive; but upon closer inspection, rather flat **(no, not what you're thinking)**. No matter how much he hated it, Kazuto knew the victims of the SAO crisis were and always would be more mature than their peers. Narumi would never understand anything he was thinking, despite her best intentions, and he himself wouldn't be able to handle the innocence she and his other classmates harbored. It had come to his attention lately that he rarely conversed with people outside of his friends from SAO; it had turned him into a sort of selective person in the eyes of society, intimidating some and irking others. In this regard, nobody would surpass Asuna in terms of genuine beauty.

Smiling, Kazuto reached out and dropped a gentle fist on Narumi's head. After hearing her cry out in surprise, he said, "Thanks for your concern. But you don't have to worry just yet; I don't have time to feel sad or frustrated."

"Why not?"

He didn't answer her until he was at the door.

"Because I haven't given up yet."

_And I never will. _

* * *

"_I trust you, Mama."_

A pair of dulled honey colored irises dilated when the lids covering them were peeled back by reflex. As usual, the NerveGear was humming gently at her ears, the tinted visor out and providing protection from the sting of bright lights, as well as displaying her vitals in a corner. Blinking, Asuna's fingers twitched and she wondered why she was crying.

Blinking harshly, Asuna tilted her head, the bulkiness of the helmet hindering her somewhat as she stared at the calendar hanging from her wall. The glossy paper of the date-keeper was thoroughly marred by the markings of a bloodred pen, with circles and slashes intersecting the many boxes and numbers. After a few more moments of gazing, she realized there were less than two weeks before the server shut-downs; twelve days, to be exact.

She'd visited Yui just now, with Kazuto, and together they had gone to the orchards of the eighth floor, where it was supposed that every conceivable food could be grown. It was the perfect place to have a picnic, and the small family had not even needed to prepare their own food, despite Kazuto's appetite for her sandwiches. It had been great fun, full of laughter and joyousness, but there had always been the nagging bite of time nibbling at the back of Asuna's mind.

_Sigh..._

* * *

The well rounded fingernails of Fuzen's fingers tapped thoughtfully at the wood of the man's desk. Before him sat two computer monitors; one displayed a map of Aincrad's essential infrastructure and design, while the other showed bios on three particular players of the infamous death game: Kirito, Asuna, and their daughter Yui.

To be truthful, Fuzen didn't know why he was thinking so intently about this. After all, his plan was virtually foolproof. He would be merciful and allow Kirigaya and his frilly girlfriend three weeks with their beloved daughter. Once the shutdown dates arrived, however, things would change indefinitely.

When his plan for revenge had first been conceptualized, the initial idea had been to trap Yui within Aincrad and isolate her from other humans, particularly her parents, in order to emotionally harm both parties. After all, the heart was the weakest member of the human anatomy, which was why he had left his own behind a long time ago. However, holes in such a plot lingered; what of other Seed-originating games? Fuzen was well aware that the girl's data was safely stored within Kirigaya's NerveGear. Even if he were to make Sword Art Online inaccessible, the boy was unfortunately smart enough to just create a new home for his supposed daughter. Fuzen required a counter to this counter.

The solution had come after much more thinking, but it displeased the Complexity executive to a certain extent, as it relied on another person's weaknesses. Kirigaya and his female partner were bound to visit their daughter one last time before the servers were shut down. During this time, the boy's NerveGear would have a strong, stable connection to the servers, servers that Fuzen had total control over.

_Once the clock strikes zero, everything will change,_ he thought silently. By having complete administrative authorities over the server's activities, he would be able to make successful alterations to the data stored in Kirigaya's full-dive specs; that was, use the NerveGear's connection to the server to render Yui's data incompatible with Seed-created virtual realities.

Fuzen had briefly considered simply destroying Yui to deliver a swift and punishing blow to the youngsters' hearts, but decided that this would be too easy, too quick. No, by leaving the young daughter within SAO, cut off from all contact, the parents would suffer from knowing their child was there, but unreachable. The AI's data inside the NerveGear would be corrupted beyond measure, and the server shutdowns would close all other possible avenues.

Yui would be completely and utterly isolated forever.

The president of Complexity had also debated whether or not to reveal himself as the culprit. After all, there was nothing Kirigaya could do to him short of cold-blooded murder. His lawyers would protect any legal front anyone could throw up, and in terms of wealth and financial security he was immortal. Yet once again, Fuzen had chosen to sit back and happily watch the boy walk through his halls with a downcast expression and a crushed resolve. That would be enough, for now.

Sighing in satisfaction, Fuzen reached into his desk to pull out a cigar. Lighting the substance contained inside and letting a puff of smoke drift towards the ceiling, he took a moment to make sure his motives were clear. After all, Fuzen never did anything for no reason. True, he would go to unreasonable lengths to get what he wanted; but he never took significant action without a thorough, clean thought on _why._

The smoke ring struck the roof and dissipated, and he blew another, thinking back. The moment he had first set foot inside the starting village of the first floor, he had known what he wanted from the universe which was Aincrad. He wanted dominance. Unrestrained and total dominance. In reality, there were rules and laws, morales and consciousness, all things designed to hold him back. Here, under the computer-generated skies, there were none of these shackles. Meaning that he could act as he had always wanted to, which was to perform business in a different way, his own way. A method which never ruled out the taking of another's life.

_The strong survive because the weak bow out of the way._

His grand vision had gone well, initially. His guild, The Laughing Coffin, had quickly risen to become one of the most feared names throughout Aincrad. Its connotation carried death and misfortune in its wake. There were times when he himself had felt unstoppable, and it had filled him with this sort of swelling satisfaction to know that nothing could stop him, that he had _achieved an absolute._ There was always a subjective element in the more carefully laid of plans, but in the virtual reality he could genuinely exploit words like _foolproof._

Then Fuzen's goals had been torn down. Stripped apart, peeled away, burned off. And by a child, no less. Was that not ridiculous? For the will of a child and his like-minded allies to topple the invincible empire he had envisioned? Fuzen had long since been taught that one only won by being better, and through no other avenue was victory attainable. He had been better. So why did he lose?

There was only one answer. Kirito, the famed Black Swordsman, was an underhanded coward who could only destroy the dreams of others as he lacked his own. It was as simple as that.

_And for that, I will crush him._

* * *

He'd always loved flowers.

Or so he thought, as he stood before the oaken door of the Yuuki residence, trying his best to get his thoughts in order. Of course, there was a much more pressing matter an hand to be thinking about at the moment, and Asuna would probably hit him if she knew where his mind was wandering presently. This did not, however, curb the apprehension Kazuto felt inside his chest.

_Flowers, pretty little roses, yes...hehe..._

At least it was apprehension now, rather than outright sweat-inducing nervousness. Kazuto remembered the first real conversation he'd had with Asuna's mother, and the first meal they'd had at the same table. Both events had been impossibly nerve wracking for him, but he seemed to have made a small improvement in such a category, assuming it existed. The "Keeping Your Heart-rate Under 300 BPM" category.

After sighing briefly, Kazuto decided it was time to face the matter at hand. Kyouko had called his aunt and requested her nephew come over to have a "talk". Kazuto had been suspicious immediately, a notion he was chagrined to find his aunt did not harbor. The woman even suggested Asuna's mother was seeking to propose a marriage, which earned her an indignant retort from her nephew that left the older woman giggling. Kyouko had declined to indulge what the topic of their discussion would be about, but it apparently concerned Asuna as well, who would also be present (he was beginning to feel like a court was convening rather than three people). So he had come.

_Well...I've been standing out here for long enough._

Blinking once, he rang the doorbell.

A minute earlier, Kyouko was sitting with her daughter in the living room.

Asuna herself was feeling a bit apprehensive. She sat fully erect in her chair, with her mother adjacent, trying to look as innocent as possible. After all, Yuuki Kyouko did not call meetings like this without prominent reason, and she had never gotten Kazuto involved.

"Asuna," Her mother voiced.

"...Yes?"

"Before Kirigaya gets here I want to tell you what I want us to discuss. As you know, you have been spending much time with Yui lately."

_She called her by name again. _"Yes mother. I have."

"And while I will support this to a certain extent, everything has its limits."

"..."

The doorbell rang.

Three minutes later, Kazuto and Asuna were sitting across from each other on separate chairs, both of them twitching awkwardly under the gaze of Yuuki Kyouko. Sighing at the young ones' apparent apprehension, she decided to begin the conversation.

"As both of you know, the servers for Sword Art Online will be shut down in less than two weeks. Due to this, both of you have been visiting Yui very frequently, and this is an activity that I will at the very least tolerate. I understand that this is something of great importance to my daughter, and to you as well Kirigaya, as I am not one to deny a person their happiness. However, all good things must end."

Kazuto's lips twisted into a subtle, but grim, frown. He had been awaiting the catch. Asuna's mother would not call them here for idle chitchat.

"The two of you must both swear something to me," Kyouko said firmly, making sure she had both of their full attentions before continuing her soliloquy. "Once all of this is over, once the servers are shutdown, the two of you need to return to a more normal lifestyle. I have been forced to accept that your experiences within the virtual reality have changed you forever, but this does not mean that anyone can avoid becoming a responsible adult. Your college educations are beginning in a month, and I will not allow your supposed daughter to hold you back in life, especially Asuna."

"But mother, I-"

"No buts," Kyouko said, cutting her daughter off. "While I know there may be ways to somehow reestablish contact with Yui - and I'm sure Kirigaya is working towards this if it exists - the world, the real world, demands that everyone take the steps into maturity some time or another. So just promise me, please, that you will accept what must come and make an effort to grow as people."

Asuna looked up and was surprised to find Kazuto staring back at her. Apparently, he had been gauging her reaction to all this. She saw the conflict on his face as well. After all, Kazuto _was_ working on a Seed based game for Yui to inhabit, but this would take months to do properly, meaning that they could honor Yuuki's request indirectly; they could carry out normal college lives while simultaneously developing their daughter's new home.

Yuuki watched all this pass between the young couple and sighed inwardly. _So they're that close._

Finally, Kazuto turned to the older woman and nodded in consent. "We will try our best," He said simply, knowing that was how Asuna's mother liked it.

"Me too."

"Good," Yuuki said. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Kirigaya. I do appreciate it."

Kazuto nodded politely. "It was no problem."

Asuna watched this exchange quietly, even though she was enjoying it inside. Finally, her mother could hold a civil conversation with her boyfriend. There had been a time where she would cringe at the very mention of his name, but now here they were, thanking each other.

"Mother," She broke out, deciding to lighten the mood.

"What?"

"Gokou-san texted me again today," She said blandly.

Her mother went beet red.

"...Gokou?" Kazuto inquired, bewildered at the older woman's rather strong reaction.

"Mother proposed we marry each other a long time ago," Asuna explained calmly while Yuuki fanned herself fervently. "I declined, and he supposedly gave up on me, but he's been texting my phone ever since with sweet messages and such. Here, take a look." Asuna held out her cell for her lover to see. Squinting, Kazuto made out the words on the screen.

_I still remember how great your smile looked when we first met._

He had to choke down his laughter.

At last, Yuuki regained her composure and straightened her clothing, trying to regain the authoritative air she had beheld just a moment ago. She tried to make eye contact with the youngsters with her chin up in the air but couldn't do it, so she just opted for a short sigh instead.

"You know what, Kirigaya," She confessed, "I may have to let you take care of my daughter until I find a more suitable partner for her."

* * *

The cool metal surface of his full dive specs kissed the skin of his fingers, and Kazuto set the NerveGear down for a moment. He glanced at the calendar and counted the days in his head for what felt like the millionth time.

He had tried his best to extend the time. Had tried to convince himself that a month was a very long time, an eternity, then two weeks, five days, and suddenly Kazuto was telling himself that one day was forever. It wasn't. Forever was forever, and nothing else. Kazuto had watched the days and weeks slip by, regardless of how much he wished they wouldn't, and now they stood at the brink, upon the cliff where everything could be changed.

_No. Don't break now._

Laying himself down on the bed, Kazuto activated his NerveGear and closed his eyes.

_Best make the most of it._

_"_Link start."

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the notice.

It was a holographic pop-up, blinking into existence seemingly out of nowhere to display some text to him. Dragging it over to the center of his periphery, Kazuto read the message: _Attention players. The servers for this VRG are to be officially shut down in one hour. Any remaining participants will be kicked from their full dive in order to perform the shutdown. You have been warned._

"The days have just gone by, haven't they?"

Kazuto turned to see Asuna standing behind him, eyes filled with tears. He looked back at the message, then back at her.

"Yeah. It has."

They could both tell that Yui was trying her best to be strong. She refused to cry, even when her parents did, a notion that made Kazuto sick at heart. Yui shouldn't be strong enough to keep her emotions bottled up when even he himself could not. Their child shouldn't have to exercise such self restraint.

"We'll bring you back as soon as possible, Yui, we promise," Asuna said through broken sobs, and the small girl embraced her mother and buried her nose into her soft hair.

"Thank you."

"I'll build a Seed based game for you to reside in," Kazuto had said. "It will take time, but eventually we'll be together again. I promise."

A glance at the clock told him there were fifteen minutes left.

After that, the small family spent most of their time in a singular embrace, everyone holding each other tight to their chests. The parents did their best to hold their child, to smell her hair, to commit her scent to memory as to never forget, the feeling of her skin, the way her breath fluttered, how she smiled. Murmured dedications of love. Promises, promises, promises.

Always promises. With no guarantees.

But that was love, wasn't it?

Two minutes left.

Asuna saw the timer ticking to zero at the corner of her HUD and clenched her teeth, still trying to fight the reality of it all while within virtuality, wanting so badly to deny what was inevitable. Kazuto said nothing but clutched Yui tighter.

One minute left.

Thirty seconds.

Ten sec-

_Shhhheeeee_

Eyes flying open Kazuto was just fast enough to witness something horrible.

Yui was fading out. Or less fading out, and more changing form. The colors of her skin and clothing were being replaced by numbers in a deep and bottomless pit, like someone had stripped her skin back to reveal the numbers of the machines which had created her. Streams of binary code rampaged through her form, and her parents watched in horror.

Then it was over. Yui returned to her normal state and collapsed to the floor. Kazuto sprang to his feet and ran for his daughter but saw the timer hit zero.

"_MAMA, PAPA!"_

_Blink._

His eyes opened to reality.

_Notice: The data for subject data YUI has been altered. Subject data is no longer compatible with Seed based games. Change is irreversible._

_Notice: The data for subject data YUI has been altered._

_Subject data is no longer compatible with Seed based games._

_Change is irreversible._

_Change._

_Irreversible..._

* * *

**_Please review this, it makes me work faster. Thank you._**


	16. Is Age a Lie?

Chapter 16: Is Age a Lie?

_Thud._

Asuna huffed and puffed a bit once she'd let the heavy box of appliances fall to the floor, lifting an arm to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. Carrying things so cumbersome was hard work, even with Kazuto and Agil both helping out, not that she would admit to her fatigue. She'd always hated how women were degraded in society based on their ability to physically contribute.

A succession of heavy footsteps reverberated across the dusty wooden flooring, alerting Asuna to another person's approach. She didn't even have to turn to know that it would be Agil walking through the door. Who had footsteps as intimidating as him? There had been brief times where the man's wife would be present at the bar, and the woman would always insist they call her husband by Andrew, his given name. She had never succeeded, however, as the name "Agil" fit him better. True, Asuna had had a difficult time adjusting to the given names of her other friends, but Agil's just seemed right for him. So Andrew wasn't needed.

"All done for this room?"

Tilting her head a bit, she called out behind her back, "A couple more boxes, I think. Then we'll be done here."

Despite it being her own idea, Kyouko had put endless restrictions on the young couples' living together. "Separate rooms," The older woman had dictated for obvious reasons, reasons which brought the blood flushing to the youngsters' cheeks, which the mother tried her best to ignore. She did not want to know how rigorously the young of this generation went about their lives. There had been many other rules and orders, all of varying severity. However, of all of them, both Kazuto and Asuna had a feeling they were going to have to violate the first one.

There was also the issue of pricing to consider. They had been given a few options, and eventually settled on one; a small apartment room not too far from the college, with a clean reputation and reasonable price. Both Kyouko and Kazuto's aunt were planning to supply the young couple with enough money to last a short while, but ultimately it would be up to them to maintain living costs. Kazuto did not expect this to be a problem, as his internship at Complexity had recently been developed into a full employment. He'd been allowed to skip a few levels in payment as well, apparently due to "extraordinary skills in the fields of computer science", words that had come out of Hideki's mouth. His only worry was juggling this with college work.

Rika had come again to say farewell. While they weren't moving in just yet, it was essentially their departure from their hometown, which warranted a farewell. This had brought to Asuna's attention that their connections to their home in reality had begun to fade as well; they hadn't visited Agil's bar so often, she hadn't interacted with Rika so much, and she hadn't even heard from Keiko for weeks. It really felt like she and Kazuto were going to enter a new phase of their lives alone, a prospect which both terrified her and filled her heart with excitement.

"Don't get too drunk," Rika had said tearfully.

Asuna laughed at the jibe. "I don't even drink, Rika. What are you saying?"

"Giving you advice for the future. You don't look like someone with a high cap on how much alcohol you can consume."

"Oh, and you do?"

"Yes."

Laughter.

The hugs had come afterwards, then the promises to keep in touch, and the vows to never forget each other. While Asuna expected to be able to meet most of these, there was a certain sadness overshadowing her. For she knew once Rika went off to her own college, she would meet new friends and make new acquaintances who would have no connection or affiliation to her at all. Like she was losing a part of Rika to growing up.

Asuna had expected Kazuto to be more embarrassed about the prospect of living together. Sure, he was highly adaptable, and they _had_ lived a married life together in Aincrad, but the boy had looked absolutely devoid of care during the car ride there. It made Asuna's heart hurt a bit, not that she didn't understand why. That message after the server shutdowns...

_Data has been altered..._

It had taken a little while for Kazuto to figure it out, and even longer to accept it. Whoever had chosen to buy the rights to the servers had dealt a discriminating blow; a server-based hacking probe which corrupted Yui's data within the NerveGear, rendering her incompatible with Seed-based games. Meaning the AI was not only unable to access SAO or ALO, but any game created through the template of the World Seed. As far as anybody knew, it was nigh impossible to force Yui's data to match up with other VR's without literally destroying her memory and ability. Which would equate to killing her.

He had cried. It had come to a shock to Asuna, not used to seeing her lover in tears. She'd only witnessed it once or twice, and was obviously unaware of the other instances he had wept before others or alone. To her, Kazuto was always steady, and resolute, and absolute. That had been one of the many reasons she'd fallen for him, because he was constant and reliable. However, she had been forced to realize lately that there was no such thing as an absolute in reality, only the human want for it, and this applied to Kazuto's fortitude as well. The best Asuna could do was hold him and murmur words of condolence into his ears, even as her own heart broke over the incident.

After all, he rarely cried, and she hadn't decided to cry with him, no matter how much she wanted to. Asuna didn't resent him for it, either. Sword Art Online had taught them that you couldn't ever yield or admit defeat, because to give up was the lose, and to lose was to die. Showing emotional weakness or human composure was something unacceptable to front-level clearers, and out of the question for solo beaters like Kazuto.

"It's small, but cozy," Agil said as he set down two more boxes on the floor.

Startled out of her reverie, Asuna blinked and agreed, "Yeah. There won't be many people living here, in any case."

The bartender smirked childishly at her. "Make sure you don't take advantage of that too often."

Asuna was ashamed to find that she understood the innuendo and went red in the face. "I think not!"

His grin grew wider. "Oh? I've heard rumors from the NPCs around the lake that the two of you were engaging in some _naughty_ activities..."

Asuna could not believe how wrong it sounded when Agil said the word _naughty._ "Please, just no," She sighed. "This is the real world, and there are repercussions for doing things like that without careful planning, first, so..."

"So you're planning it?"

"Out. Now."

"Sorry."

Asuna smiled and shook her head, glancing about at the bare, colorless walls of the room. This was the main central room, if it could be called that, with two bedrooms and a bathroom branching off. That pretty much summed up the apartment, really.

"Hey, Agil," She murmured.

"Hm?"

"Do you think Kazuto will be alright?"

The big man smiled and went back to sorting boxes. "Nobody knows him as well as you. What do you think?"

A silence ensured as the girl gave it some thought. "I...well, I know he'll be alright eventually. Nothing effects him forever; or maybe it does, and he choses not to show it. My question is, how long will it take for him to be able to do that?"

Agil glanced over and sighed inwardly. These two were way too young to have to deal with such questions; the world was indeed cruel. "You can't be alright yourself, Asuna. Are you feeling fine?"

Asuna looked down at the hardwood floor and crossed one shoed toe over the other. "Well...in all honesty, I expected myself to have some sort of mental breakdown, like I almost did before, but...I just didn't. I can't explain it. You would think I would feel devastated, don't you? Since I care so much about Yui..."

"Is something holding you back from that?" Agil asked tactfully, eyeing the girl's countenance carefully.

Asuna closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. "Maybe. After all, this has been going on for a long time. I mean issues related to SAO, not just our separation from Yui...and now that I can't do anything about or distance, perhaps I've just chosen to...not feel? Not care about it at all?"

The bartender let the boxes be and smiled sadly. "You're personality normally wouldn't allow you to lack empathy for something so important."

"I know. It makes me sick."

"Maybe you are? No offense meant. In a mental sense."

Now it was Asuna's turn to smile sadly, as she watched a pair of birds flit by the window of the eleventh floor she stood on. Carefree and always set on a goal.

"No," She murmured, so quietly Agil almost missed it. "I'm not sick.

"Just...desensitized."

Another pair of footsteps, these lighter but still somewhat weighty, meaning Kazuto had entered the room. "Hey, how's the progress here?" He asked before seeing his lover staring quietly out the window. He turned to Agil for answers, who shrugged and patted his shoulder.

"Do what you do best," He said before leaving the room.

Kazuto looked back at the rear of Asuna's head and frowned, crossing the room and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She didn't say anything at first. Kazuto's frown deepened and worry spawned inside of him. "Hey, are you alright? Are you feeling sick?"

Asuna turned, then, and buried her face into his chest. Blinking in surprise, Kazuto instinctively held her close to him, running a hand through her silky hair.

"Hey, Kazu-kun," She said softly.

"Yes?"

"Why do you love me?"

Kazuto's heart skipped a beat at that one, and he forced himself to think carefully about the question. But then he realized that perhaps he shouldn't have to think so hard about it; shouldn't he know why he adored the most important person in his world? This led to a great jumbling conundrum in his brain, and he decided to settle for the simplest answer.

Breathing heavily out his nose, Kazuto planted a small kiss on Asuna's forehead and whispered sweetly into her ear:

"You make life worth living."

Asuna made a sound of discontent at this. "Why does life have to be unbearable without me in it?" She murmured. "Is it really so horrible?"

Kazuto twined his fingers through her hair. "Lately, it has been."

"It isn't always that way."

"That was when life was simple."

"Is it complicated now?"

"Yes." Kazuto said tiredly, bending his head to nuzzle his nose into the curve of his lovers neck, choosing to lose himself within her bewitching scent of strawberries and the morning dew.

Asuna shifted slightly against him. "Am I complicated?"

It was uncharacteristic of her to have doubt in herself. "Of course not. I love you, Asuna, but that love's always been simple...it hasn't ever been contorted."

"How do you know?"

Kazuto smiled and nipped the upper ridge of her ear affectionately. "I call it simple because I can't put it in words...if I could express how much I cared about you on paper, then it could be changed, and I know that will never happen. Regardless of what happens, Asuna, I'll always be here. I'll always care for you. But that's as close as I can come to using words as a medium of expression, so love must be simple."

Asuna laughed and threw a light fist at him. "You were always too good with words."

"It's one of my many endearing traits."

* * *

Soon another week passed. It was the first one in a while that hadn't blown by like a frightened sparrow. Nevertheless, time will pass and it did in this instance, and seven days later Kazuto found himself in a new home.

He had received endless teasing about it too. The whole "a young couple living alone together" thing. True, they would be relatively uninterrupted while inside, and they _did_ plan to break Kyouko's rule about sleeping separately, but they had their own lives to lead. Not everything they did under the same room involved something unsuitable for teens, people.

Regardless of where his fantasies took him sometimes.

His aunt and Asuna's mother had both come together to send their children off. Kazuto's aunt had been good natured and surprisingly mature about it, even avoiding making any snide remarks about him living with a woman. She just hugged him and said that she was proud, but would miss him, and that his mother would have wanted to be here too. Kyouko had just stared at him levelly and said simply,

"If you sleep with her, I'll kill you."

She had never been one to speak superfluously.

Nevertheless, there had been something Kazuto had been wondering about during his moving into the apartment; it was a notion he had not chosen to share with Asuna just yet, wanting to explore it properly before expressing himself. It was the thought that perhaps this was a new opportunity for them to "act their age" as it was said. While he hadn't been present to hear Asuna say it, Kazuto was well aware that the two of them had been thoroughly desensitized to the feeling of pain and disappointment. He also knew that it was unnatural for people their age to have gone through such things, and at such magnitude, already.

Now, their greatest cause for concern was unreachable. While Kazuto still did not accept the fact that Yui was gone forever, and would continue to search for ways to bring her back, he knew there wasn't much he could do in the near future. Essentially, by moving away from home and going to college he could launch a sort of clean slate program where the grievances of the past had no place.

_A chance to act young,_ He mused amusedly. _I sound so old. Does this mean I've failed at this already?_

Later that night, when he and Asuna were laying together in bed, Kazuto had decided to broach the topic. The two of them had, of course, decided to go against Kyouko's decree. After all, repercussions for doing so had never been placed, and barring the woman barging through the door, there was no reason to get caught. So there they lay, Asuna curled up against him like a cat. Kazuto had always been fascinated by the way she slept when he was with her; she always brought one leg up to half-straddle him in her slumber, and the limp fingers of one hand were usually splayed lightly across his chest. Not only that, but the girl's lips were always pressed against the skin of his neck, and they twitched occasionally as she dreamed, shaping meaningless words against his veins with thrilling softness.

It like she was trying to seduce him in her sleep.

That aside, Kazuto poked her on the head, and she murmured something incoherent. Lifting her head, Asuna blinked until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and asked, "What is it?"

"Were you asleep?"

"No."

"Good. I want to ask you something."

Asuna rolled her slight body on top of his, angling her hips as to not let all of her weight down on him. "What do you want to know?"

"It's about this whole notion of college."

"Nervous?"

"Not so much. It's more like, going to college is something young people do, right? And I feel like the things we've had to go through aren't very..._young_ for lack of a better word. As in, most people our age haven't experienced what we have. We haven't been able to act our age, really, due to circumstances...so do you think this is a good chance for us to fill in that blank?"

Asuna smiled and traced small circles onto his chest. "You really like to think really deeply into things, don't you?"

Kazuto smirked back and ran a single finger along his lover's thigh under the blankets, drawing a hitched breath from the girl.

"I guess...though, I can be spontaneous at times," He murmured.

"Can you do both?"

"Be young, and spontaneous?" Kazuto asked in mock dumbfounded-ness. "Don't they go hand in hand?"

"Shall we find out?" Asuna whispered to him, her lips just a micrometer from his. He could feel her hot breath warming his face, and the hands tangled in his hair eager to roam elsewhere, as well as her lithe form pressed against him, and he smiled happily.

"It would be my pleasure."

And so a long night of pleasures ensued.

Though they didn't go as far as they did in Chapter 16.5...that would have to wait for later. Preferably post-marital.

* * *

When the first day of school came, he almost didn't notice.

Kazuto simply woke up on a Monday and realized blandly, _I have school today. Okay, time to get up._

And then, of course, he moved his body only to find the smooth body of a young woman wrapped around him with disheveled clothes on, and he had to wonder if he'd fallen for the traps of alcohol after all.

Asuna would have killed him if he'd told her that.

The walk to school was actually quite uneventful. They went together, but did not pass any other students. It could be assumed that the rest were living in dormitories, or had apartments elsewhere. Nevertheless, neither of them laid eyes on anything related to the University of Tokyo until they reached the grounds themselves.

"Damn," Kazuto muttered.

Tokyo University had always been hailed for the beauty of its campus, and he'd seen pictures, but apparently a camera was not capable of properly capturing the sight before them. A massive garden of interlocking circles and paths wove out before them, eventually ending at a massive glass building that rose for several stories. A spire peaked the structure, gleaming in the early morning sunlight, and two wings branched off from the main structure, resulting in a form almost reminiscent of the US capitol. The young couple stood there for a moment to admire the view.

"We'll be late for class," Asuna murmured.

"Ah," Kazuto agreed, and they took off.

* * *

On the issue of friends, Kazuto had chosen not to worry too much about such a topic. True, college could serve as a sort of clean slate, but his name had been exposed to the general media as well. While it was usually under the alias Kirito due to privacy laws, he was aware that many others knew his face and importance. Which made it very possible somebody would recognize him, and make a big deal out of it, which he had never been able to understand.

With this in mind, Kazuto entered his first class in college without the intention of talking to anybody. If he had to interact with anybody besides Asuna at all, he had Hitomi; the girl was a year above him, yes, but she had always been friendly to him. If not a bit inappropriate.

Shuffling over to a seat at the far back end, Kazuto took his seat and began sorting his things, preparing for the impending class. Hopefully at this location, nobody would disturb him.

Apparently, the universe had other ideas.

"Yo."

Blinking, Kazuto turned his head and saw another student sitting beside him. So it appeared his tactics had failed after all. Briefly, he examined the person in front of him. He appeared calm enough, other than his cropped blonde hair, seeing as he wasn't a foreigner. His clothes were quite disheveled, however, with a few patches of dirt showing here and there, and he had a general air of cockiness about him.

"Hey," He answered carefully.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" The other man asked politely, and Kazuto decided it was best to shake his head. The student grinned and adjusted his seat, then leaned forward and asked,

"Hey, can I see your shoes?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Your shoes, I want to take a look at them."

"What could that possible accomplish?"

The odd man before him crossed his arms and shook his head like he was scolding a child. "You can tell a lot from a person's shoes, you know! For example, if the covering over the upper heels are scuffed, it means the owner is too lazy to lean down and take them off himself. I say 'himself' because most girls are too cautious about their shoes to damage them in such a manner, as there's an eighty percent chance of a person who has scuffs of their shoe heels being a male. Do you understand my objective?"

Kazuto eyed the man for a moment and said, "You know, I've seen and heard a lot of confusing things in my lifetime, but you've managed to trump every last one of them."

"Thanks," He said with a cheeky grin.

"What's your name?" Kazuto asked, giving into the social demand to make connections. Apparently, it couldn't be avoided after all.

"Takanashi Sota," The fellow student announced proudly. "The kanji for my name makes it look like it says 'Katanashi,' but it isn't! I hate when people mess that up."

Kazuto watched as Takanashi wrote down his name in kanji and frowned. "Doesn't that actually say Katanashi?"

"No," Sota said patiently. He pointed out the tiny discrepancy and said, "It's _Takanashi."_

"Ah. Well, in regards to looking at my shoes, I suppose I don't mind..."

Sota saluted his thanks and dove under the desk while Kazuto tried his best not to inch away uncomfortably. Katanashi (or Takanashi, whichever) spend a hefty amount of time simply staring at the shoes before clambering back up into his seat.

"Find anything out?" Kazuto asked with imld interest.

Takanashi nodded vigorously and sneezed. "You walked through the gardens to get here," He started out.

Kazuto blinked in surprise.

"I can tell you were walking here with a girl, too," Katanashi added with a small giggle. After forcing down a blush, Kazuto demanded, "How do you know that?"

"Well, these look like relatively new shoes. Despite this, you being a male, the heels and soles should be more scuffed than they are. Meaning you've had to restrict your strides a bit, and the reason is most likely a woman, as their steps are shorter and more delicate.

"You're also a huge worrywart," Takanashi said off-handedly.

Kazuto smirked at this. "What told you that? The material of the shoes?"

"No, the laces. You triple tied them and then looped the aglets to make sure they don't flap around when you walk."

"...I see."

"Kazu-kun!"

Starting, Kazuto looked up to see Asuna walking swiftly across the classroom towards them. She was drawing a lot of looks from the other males in the room as well, a fact duly noted by her partner, who threw daggers with his eyes at as many of the onlookers as possible, intimidating most of them.

"Sorry I fell behind," Asuna panted as she eased herself into a seat next to Katanashi. "Had to get some stuff cleared up at the office I totally forgot about."

"That's alright," Kazuto amended.

Meanwhile, Takanashi was evaluating his next subject.

"Hey, you're pretty," The shoe-examiner said almost vaguely, drawing Asuna's attention to him. Kazuto just rolled his eyes and looked in the opposite direction, hoping his partner would be tactful enough to deflect Katanashi's weirdness.

"Um...well, thank you?" Asuna said uncertainly. Takanashi grinned his cheeky smile at that and continued talking.

"Are you from around here?"

"No," She answered truthfully. "I came from a couple hours' drive away."

"Where?"

"Um...well, it's hard to say."

"Would you like to take me there?"

"...Why?"

"To see if there's anyone else as beautiful as you wandering around."

Kazuto felt his temples surge at that last one, and he had to clench his fist around a sheaf of papers to maintain his composure. Sure, Katanashi might be an oddball with eccentric tastes, but he shouldn't allow anybody to go around talking to his lover like that. However, the calmer side of his mentality told him to stay his hand. The shoe-expert wasn't really doing much harm, was he?

Asuna laughed nervously. "I'm not that attractive. You're exaggerating."

"I couldn't exaggerate about how good you look," Takanashi insisted in good nature.

"Oh...um..."

_Just remain calm..._

"Are you busy after classes today?" Katanashi asked nonchalantly, or at least what he thought was nonchalant, reaching out to place a hand over Asuna's.

The girl spluttered at the sudden contact and stuttered, "I-I-I, um-"

_Just...don't...break..._

"I know this great cafe downtown," Takanashi said softly. "I know the manager there, and he'd be more than willing to lend us a back room where we could-"

"I THINK NOT!" Kazuto roared, bringing every pair of eyes towards their area in a split second. But he didn't care. Jabbing a finger into Katanashi's chest, and seethed, "The young lady you were speaking to just happens to be my _partner in life,_ so would you kindly _lay off_?"

"P-P-Partner-"

"Yes, partner! We live together and everything! Does the context elude you!?"

Takanashi gulped hard and asked meekly,

"You're...married?"

An epic silence in the classroom.

Then Kazuto sighed and left his arm drop. "No, you idiot, we aren't."

"Then what's the issue here?"

A fist connected with Katanashi's nose, and his world went black.

* * *

**Yay, finally some non-dramatic moments XD The story will get a little more uplifting from here, so those of you who wanted some more funnies/happies, just wait!  
And now, I must go study for finals.**

***Ugh***

**-Shrrg**

**Review it, yeah? It motivates me!**


	17. Connections, Rejections

**You guys don't know this, but this update came a little later than planned, sorry D: I didn't expect to be so busy (I'm in New York right now on a trip), but here it is! Enjoy!**

**P.S: Ai Mamoru, more jealous Kazuto in the future. I've concluded after some thought that it will fit very nicely with Kazuto's dynamic with Takanashi, so thanks for the idea!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Connections, Rejections

"You didn't have to hit him, you know," Asuna sighed as her pencil scrawled across the paper.

Kazuto didn't answer at first, busy trying to decipher a difficult math problem. After reaching an acceptable conclusion and circling the proper answer, he replied, "Maybe not, but he provoked me, didn't he?"

"He was just _flirting,_ Kazu-kun. Does that really warrant a fist to the nose? I didn't knock you out whenever you tried to woo me, you know."

Kazuto blushed to the tips of his ears and furiously tackled his math assignment. "I don't remember ever trying to woo you."

Asuna, who was also preoccupied with her studies, snorted at that. The two of them were both sitting on a decently sized coffee table in the central room, having decided to finish their schoolwork together in advance. "Oh, really? Did you forget Valentine's Day?"

Of course, he hadn't. On Valentine's Day within Aincrad, the Cardinal System had announced a game-wide event where giving a present to someone of the opposite sex would increase their chances of finding a rare item by ten percent. It had been more than enough incentive to Kazuto, then Kirito, because one could never be too prepared for anything. The only question was _who_ to give a present to. If the recipient refused, the challenge would go uncompleted, and the reward not given. Kirito had sat down in his room and thought long and hard about who to try, perhaps foolishly, as he really had only one female acquaintance at the time, and that had been Asuna.

"You tried so hard to hide the fact that you had a box of chocolates behind your back," The aforementioned girl continued almost blandly, like she was recounting a portion of historical fiction. "You were blushing to the roots of your hair and you couldn't get any of your words in a straight line." Then she broke out giggling. "You were so _cute._"

"Well, you accepted in anyway, didn't you?" Kazuto muttered, trying to hide from the embarrassment associated with that moment in his life. "It was purely for gaming purposes, back then."

Asuna smirked at him from across the table, curling her lips back to show off a straight set of teeth. "I didn't know 'gaming purposes' could make a man smile like a doofus when the woman accepts his gift."

Kazuto gulped under his lover's knowing gaze and ground out, "I was...excited to go find some rare items, of course."

The girl laughed at the obvious lie and reached over to plunk him on the head. "You could take down a Frost Dragon with one hand tied to your side, and ascend the World Tree with minimal support, but you've never been a liar, Kazuto. You're too honest for your own good, sometimes."

"Would you rather all of my words were just riddles?"

"Well...it_ would_ make life more interesting."

"Oh, shut up."

They quieted back down after that, both of them toiling silently at their schoolwork, trying their best to concentrate despite the other's presence. That had been one of Kazuto's primary worries about moving in with his partner to go to college; how could he possibly get any reasonable amount of work done, knowing that Asuna was under the same roof, or even in the same room? Even now, Kazuto couldn't help stealing the occasional glance at the girl's focused eyes, or her nimbler fingers, the sweep of her collarbones, the way she always bit her lip in concentration.

He never got tired of looking at her.

"In any case," Asuna said, making Kazuto blink a few times, "Don't attack every other guy who wants to talk to me, okay? Some people just have a flirtatious way of making conversation. You might not know this, based on what you told me about your social life before SAO, but a lot of guys can talk to girls and not have the intention of taking it further than a simple friendship."

Kazuto grunted. "It makes me uncomfortable, though."

She smirked at him again. "Are you really so afraid I'll leave you?"

"Would you?" He challenged her.

Asuna chuckled. "That'd better be rhetorical. Now, would you kindly help me out with this question?"

Rolling his eyes, Kazuto brought his books and papers across the table and sat down next to her. After helping Asuna with the problem, he decided to just continue working next to her in favor of moving back to his previous spot. Maybe, if he just focused really really _really_ hard, he would be able to get through five problems without wanting to look over at her-

His thought processes were thoroughly skewed when Asuna shifted her weight and leaned in his left shoulder, pencil still scrawling back and forth across paper, her pace of work never faltering in the slightest. Blinking, Kazuto was about to ask what was going on, but she beat him to it.

"You need to improve your concentration skills," The girl murmured to him. "Consider this a test. Now, get to work."

Ah...a challenge.

Huffing, he muttered, "Challenge accepted," Before silencing himself and returning to his math homework. This wasn't so hard; he could work under such conditions. The only change that Asuna had brought to the battlefield was the presence of a slight, warm body against his thudding heart, and the sensation of her soft, silky hair as it tickled his ear, sending goosebumps running down his spine.

_Dammit_, Kazuto thought in despair. Who was he kidding? He was totally lacking of the ability to control himself under the current circumstances. And said circumstances were not so severe, either. He could only pray that Asuna wouldn't take it any further than she already had.

Kazuto's prayers were flatly denied, however, when he felt a warm pair of lips press against the skin of his exposed neck, drawing a strangled breath from his throat. Clutching his pencil with a death-grip, he stammered,

"A-Asuna, what are you-"

She cut him off with a sharp _tsk._ "See? No concentrative ability whatsoever," She scolded him, murmuring every word against his jumping veins. "Can't you at least try?"

"I don't think I'll ever have to face these extremes," Kazuto choked out, desperately trying to keep himself from jumping on his lover and ravishing her without restraint. He would_ not_ lose such a petty game. He was better than this...

Sighing in mock disappointment at being unable to properly tempt her prey, Asuna ran her nose up the length of his jaw and warmed his ears with her breath, murmuring sweet nothings into the sensitive things, every torturous syllable pushing his consciousness closer to madness. Kazuto was involuntarily forced to squirm when a soft pink tongue flicked out to sting his ear lobe, sending some sort of numbing sensation through his entire cranium. Witchcraft. Witchcraft, he was telling you. No mere human would be cruel enough to push someone to such desperation.

Allowing a small whimper to escape from his lips and hating himself for it, Kazuto breathed, "Asuna, _please,_ I-"

"No excuses," His lover rasped into his ear, nipping him discriminately in all of his weak points, forcing him to suppress his voice from escaping again. Asuna laughed, the sudden sound startling against his now wet ears, and his grip on the pencil skyrocketed so much that the wooden stick actually snapped under the pressure.

"You..." Kazuto choked out, grasping at words now, "Are unbelievable."

She chuckled at him and brought her fingers into play, moving to tug almost languidly at his belt. "Am I?"

Then the doorbell rang.

He took his chance _immediately._ Bolting to his feet so fast the chair flew into the wall, he spluttered, "GOTTA ANSWER THAT!" And sped for the door.

Asuna watched him go, and only allowed her laughter to escape once he was out of earshot, despite the flush which dominated her own expression.

He was just so _cute_.

* * *

"I'm going to out buy some things," Kazuto called out some days later, speaking from his position by the open door. "Do you need anything while I'm out?"

He couldn't see her, but Asuna laughed at him from the other room. "You sound like the wife, Kazuto."

"I wasn't aware we were married."

There was a brief silence while Asuna tried to best to act like what he'd said did not affect her, but he knew her too well for that. Finally, clearing her throat, she called down, "Just some greens would be great. Celery, stuff like that. You know where to find those, right?"

"I got out of the house a _bit_ more often than you might think, Asuna."

"Well, then, prove it."

The moment he left the threshold of the apartment building, Kazuto wished he'd chosen more comfortable attire for the day. It was a sweltering autumn saturday, one of those post-summer heat waves, where the season attempted to stage a comeback as if to deny the fall's proper coming. Exhaling forcefully from his nose, he decided it wasn't worth it to go all the way back and change; best to get things done quickly.

Thus resolved, Kazuto set off down the sidewalk, following the general sense of direction he had of the area. He knew there was a bustling mini-city nearby, with plenty of malls and stores, though he couldn't claim to know every establishment. This excursion was less a quest for materials and more a way of developing a feel for the area. Strangely enough, Asuna had never been one to need to do such a thing, as if she had pre-downloaded a map of the area before arriving. Women were indeed strange.

Proceeding down the street which would lead him where he wanted to go, Kazuto allowed his wind to wander, as it often wished to. There were a lot of things to think about, anyway. Firstly, his newfound situation. It had been a tumultuous time when he'd been informed of Kyouko's suggestion that he move in with her daughter; they had both been heavily preoccupied with highly pressing matters. Now that the dust had settled somewhat, however, and time to contemplate given, Kazuto could speculate about what his current setting would lead to. Of course, living with Asuna was a big step for their relationship, and he could safely assume it would only assist the growth of their bond. It was the implications of the move that bothered him, really. Just because he had been flatly squashing everyone's remarks about the topic didn't mean he did not harbor his own misgivings.

Kazuto had learned a long time ago that certain things could not be reversed. He knew some people who chose to live a lifestyle cultured after some sort of brinksmanship, those who would push the chance of risk to the extreme in the hope of assumption that they could cease before it was too late. That wasn't how life worked. This much, he could state without hesitation. There were certain junctions every person had to face, and these choices would always seem incapable of largely affecting the final outcome. Despite this, the simplest or most frivolous of choices have the potential to set in motion an unstoppable course of events. His simple decision to beta for Sword Art Online had resulted in a two year separation from reality. Likewise, his impulse to speak to Asuna during their first interaction had begun the journey of his love for her. It was a process of give and take, life. Except taking too much always resulted in failure.

This established, Kazuto wondered what would ultimately come of his living with Asuna. Of course, the logical conclusion did not elude him; he was not so oblivious. After college, assuming they still lived together, it would almost be a given for them to marry. He loved Asuna almost unconditionally, and he knew she returned his feelings; and once they were adults, there was no other end to reach. What else would they do? Date for a decade. No, that was ridiculous.

Though of course, there was the "issue" of Asuna's mother. Kazuto was well aware the older woman had adjusted more to the notion of his love for her daughter, but he still reserved doubts about whether she would approve of anything beyond that, and forget marriage. The woman would bust a major artery if were to even allude to it. Though if she were to refuse such an advancement, what else would she do? Continue to attempt to pair Asuna with an ideal partner without her child's consent? Whether she ended up being forced to accept it or not, he knew such a move would not go over remotely well with his lover. And he didn't intend to give up on her so easily, either.

_Kyouko's excuse for having me live with Asuna was for me to keep other men at bay so she can focus on her studies, as well as watch over her,_ Kazuto thought as he turned into a narrow street that ran by a long row of ragged shops and stores. _But what kind of double standard is that?_ If his relationship with Asuna made Kyouko so uneasy, why chose him to watch over her for three years in college at all? It confused him beyond measure. Whether it was some extreme form of hypocrisy or not, Kyouko had been very inconsistent with her standing on the topic. He almost wished she would chose one side and stick to it steadfast, even if it went against his goals, because then he would know what to expect.

Closing his eyes and letting out a short sigh, Kazuto tried to take his mind off the thought process and focus on something else, like the waves of heat beating down upon him from above, not that he found that so savory either.

_In any case, i should just focus on living through college first,_ he thought. _And refrain from punching people too often, like Asuna said. I still haven't gotten the chance to apologize for that..._

"Kazuto-san!"

Startled, he looked to the right to locate the source. His eyes focused on a small, shabby store sitting alongside the narrow road, with an old worn sign that read _Shoes on Sale for Bargain Prices. _ Looking under said sign, he saw a familiar blonde man sitting on a crate and waving at his direction.

"Katanashi?" Kazuto asked dumbly, still surprised to see him.

The shoe-expert huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's _Takanashi_, idiot."

"Ah...sorry?"

Minutes later, Kazuto was sitting awkwardly on a crate of his own while Takanashi looked around in the back for some cold water. He had been unable to refuse to man's offer to stop by for a moment and cool off, mainly due to the still lingering guilt over punching him. It was hot, anyways.

Takanashi returned with the water, which Kazuto accepted politely. Twisting the bottle open, he took a reserved sip as the blonde beside him fell heavily onto his crate and downed half the container in one go. Wiping his mouth, he sighed and said, "It's getter hotter and hotter here every year, I tell you. Global warming's a bitch."

"You still believe in that hoax?"

Takanashi tutted at him and shook his finger. "Just because the politicians say it isn't true doesn't mean it isn't, know what I mean? Those guys will do anything to get support from us, and that includes telling lies."

"Well, I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Do you know anything about anything?"

"I'm not that ignorant. In fact, I know plenty of things," Kazuto snorted, succumbing to the instinct to protect his manly ego.

Chuckling, Takanashi set his water bottle down and rubbed at the back of his neck languidly. "You don't know anything really until you learn to understand shoes," He said sagely, gesturing at the rows of products lining the walls behind him.

Kazuto stole a glance and asked, "Do you sell these?"

"Mhm."

"Yourself?"

"No, my dad does it with me. He taught me everything I know about shoes, you know. He's out right now, but I'll be sure to introduce you next time."

"Is he as into shoes as you are?"

"Heck no. He loves them twice as much. No, three."

_Oh, god._

Tugging at his collar, Kazuto let out an overheated breath. He really should have dressed more lightly today. Taking a deeper swig of water this time, Kazuto cleared his throat, preparing to reengage in conversation.

"Oh, uh...and I'm sorry for hitting you, back then."

"Mm?" Takanashi mumbled, too busy staring at something in the grass across the road. He tried following the blonde's gaze but failed to comprehend what captivated him so. After a few more moments of deliberation, the shoe lover hummed and said, "Oh, that. It's fine. I guess I crossed a couple lines there, huh?" He laughed then, rubbing his head in self exasperation.

_No, you crossed a dozen._ "Well, I made things a bit unclear from the start, anyways. Asuna and I aren't married, but we are dating, and we live together. Sorry for the confusion."

"Asuna," Takanashi murmured, back to staring at something in the glistening tarmac. "That's a beautiful name."

"...Right."

"Fits her appearance."

"Watch it."

"Sorry," Takanashi laughed. "You're just easy to mess with."

"What?"

"Nothing," The blonde dismissed easily with a flick of the hand. "So where'd you meet her, man? It couldn't have been from around here, none of the chicks here are pretty anymore. Was it while you were inside that death game? What was it called again?"

Kazuto blinked in surprise. "You know about that?"

"Of course I do, man. Everyone on the whole planet was flipping out about it when the ball first dropped, remember? Or maybe you don't since you weren't here," He realized with a laugh.

"How much do you know about me?"

"I read that article on you, or your in-game you, if I could call it that."

_Ah...that one._ Simply searching the keyword "Kirito" into a Google searchbar would bring up thousands of results, but the most popular of them had been a highly acclaimed article of his supposed experiences within SAO. Kazuto had noticed some discrepancies from what had actually occurred within the writing, but sadly it was the most credible account of his story out there on the media.

"Most people would have mentioned that first thing if they recognized my face," Kazuto murmured. "Not that I enjoy that."

Takanashi hummed again and tossed his empty bottle somewhere in the general direction of a trashcan. "Well, I figured you wouldn't, so I decided not to mention it."

"You're right, I hate it. But how'd you know."

He shrugged before answering. "I guess I could kind of relate, you know? It don't put any effort into hiding it here, but the truth is that me and my dad are poor. And that's embarrassing, of course. People at school who know about our financial situation always try to offer some sort of consolation or sympathy, as if it would help. Empathy about me being poor always pissed me off, but it's hard to explain. Anyways, I figured you'd feel the same way about being asked about SAO. Must've been a horrible time, based on what I know. and since I can't do anything to fix what happened my sympathy would only upset you, right?"

Kazuto stared at Takanashi for a moment longer before answering slowly. "..Spot on."

"Mm," The blonde agreed, nodding as he squinted at the heat waves outside. "When bad things happen to people, they don't care about how badly others feel for them. They just want results. Or at least, that's how it was for me. I don't speak for everyone."

Kazuto frowned thoughtfully and said, "You know...you're a lot smarter than you come off to be."

"Don't rub it in."

"Sorry."

"That's why I've taken my dad's obsession with shoes and run off with it, Takanashi continued, swinging his arm around to encompass the ones behind him along the walls. "People treat their shoes the way they really are. One can act kind or cruel, but nobody ever thinks of treating their shoes with the same attitude, right? They'll abuse them if they want to, or care for them if they wish. It's a lot easier to just look at a person's feet and make basic judgements off of that, than to have to speak to them and face the lies and social facades they put up for the sake of a warped sense of courtesy."

Kazuto didn't respond to that immediately, instead choosing to drink more water and stare outside with the other man from under the shade. While he couldn't exactly say they were friends yet, he was now aware that both of them shared the same feelings about how people acted. Or at least, people who couldn't relate to what they had gone through. Takanashi would never have to go through the horrors of SAO, but he understood the meaning of adversity and the sympathy passerby had for it, and why to hate said sympathy.

In a sense, the two of them knew more than anyone else, and it was this knowledge that plagued them so.

Nevertheless, Kazuto felt a newfound respect and connection for the man sitting on a crate beside him. Maybe he was a bit odd with his hobbies, and the blonde's apparent interest in Asuna was irking, but finally he had found someone who could truly understand his grievances. Before, he had kept them bottled up, tucked away; after all, where was the point in venting where nobody could comprehend you?

"Thanks," He murmured, making Takanashi blink.

"What for?"

"For thinking like I would," Kazuto elaborated, for some reason having trouble translating his thoughts into words. "You refrained from mentioning my past not out of pity, but out of understanding, because you at least know what I think like. And I can appreciate that. So, thanks."

"Does this mean you forgive me for hitting up your girlfriend?"

"For now."

"I'll apologize to her, too."

"If you want. It's not mandatory, though. She didn't mind at all."

"Really?"

"That doesn't mean you should try again."

"Oh."

Kazuto laughed genuinely, then, and plunked Takanashi on the head.

And the two men enjoyed a brotherly silence together.

_So, I ended up making acquaintances after all..._

* * *

The following week, Kazuto was sitting in his cubicle tapping away at his computer when he got a message instructing him to meet Hideki in his office.

Tilting his head, Kazuto began randomly speculating about why this had come to be. Hideki would occasionally stop by and have a word with him after their working hours, but it was indeed rare for the head of his department to request a meeting in the middle of his shift. It must be an important issue then. No time for milling around.

Clearing the message, Kazuto gathered up what he'd been working on before heading for Hideki's office.

He knocked before testing the door. "Come in," A voice said from the other end. Taking the go-ahead, he pushed open the door and stuck his head in.

"Ah, Kazuto," Hideki said, smiling. "That was quick. Please have a seat," He said, gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk.

Accepting the offer, Kazuto sat down and waited.

Tapping his pen on the wooden desk for a moment, the older man took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "I must apologize, first of all. I called you hear for a more personal reason than a professional one, and it concerns a topic you might be unwilling to speak about. So if you having any misgivings at all during our conversation, don't hesitate to say so."

"I won't," Kazuto answered tactfully.

Asuna's elder brother smiled. "Good. Because it might concern Yui."

He didn't have to wait for a response. Kazuto was already all ears. He had briefly spoken with Hideki about his situation with Yui being trapped within his NerveGear before, and the head of the department had made a small promise to look into the matter, though Kazuto hadn't expected anything to come of it.

"You see, Kazuto, my core team has been working on a top-grade project for the past two years," Hideki began. "It started in the wake of the launch of SAO, when ten thousand consciousnesses were trapped within a virtual reality. People began to fear that their friends and children would never escape. As a result, Complexity made it a goal to develop a sort of roundabout solution to the predicament."

"And that was?"

"Memory grafting. That is, growing a human bio-capsule and assimilating an SAO victim's consciousness with it. Basically, sticking a person's brain and its contents into an empty body. It wasn't exactly a tested science back then, so production inevitably stalled, but it was never really cancelled. And quite recently, a breakthrough allowed us to prepare for the next step. However, we encountered a problem."

Kazuto nodded, ushering him on.

Hideki frowned in concentration, carefully selecting his next words. "For such a high-end project, I needed the President's approval to move onto the next step. He was indifferent while I was explaining it to him, but when I suggested you for the process he became immensely interested."

Kazuto narrowed his eyes. "How could I even contribute to this?"

"Well, the next step was human trials. Except, we need a sheltered consciousness from within some sort of catalyst to carry out the tests. So I thought, why not use NPCs and monitor systems from SAO? We own the servers, so it would be no issue to find a suitable candidate. And since you've spent extensive time among the computers there, I figured you could recommend a "person" for me. When I made this suggestion, however, the proposal was immediately vetoed, and the funds directed towards the project were promptly jettisoned."

The younger employee's eyebrows shot up. "Why does my involvement have such a dramatic importance to it? I wasn't even part of the process beforehand."

"Precisely," Hideki stressed, placing five fingers on the desk, spread out like a poised spider. "Which leads me to believe Fuzen had a good reason to keep you from becoming entangled within what happens with my now cancelled project. So I thought, what could you do if you were able to assist? The only conclusion is, bring someone from within the SAO servers to reality, or at least potentially. And so Yui came to mind."

Hideki's reasoning no struck Kazuto like a lightning bolt. Kazuto already knew that the company had need Fuzen's direct approval to buy the SAO servers; the President's go-ahead was also required to approve his own involvement with the memory-grafting project. So for whatever reason, Fuzen didn't want him possibly bringing Yui into the real world. Additionally, the cuber attack which had rendered Yui's data incompatible with Seed-based games must also have come from Complexity, as the servers were isolated in this very building.

Only Fuzen could have approved such an attack, unless it was done secretly.

_Secretly._

"So you're telling me the Prez has a strong motive to keep me from bringing Yui here?" Kazuto said, voicing his deductions.

Hideki nodded solemnly. "I honestly can't say why, and I'm sorry for that, but its what I know. He was quite intrigued about you when I wanted to bring you in for the internship, too. Do you have a special relationship with the President?"

"Of course not."

The older man nodded in acceptance. "Alright, then. I just thought you ought to know, since Yui is very important to both you and my sister. Just don't do anything irrational with what I've told you, okay? It isn't exactly free-running information; it's top-secret, actually. I just hope my office isn't bugged."

Kazuto smiled. "Don't worry, I'll think it over really carefully."

Hideki gave him a pained smile. "Regrettably, that does not comfort me in the least."

"Ah...sorry."

Upon exiting Hideki's office, Kazuto took a moment to look out the window and observe the surrounding skyscrapers. Of course, he hadn't forgotten about his daughter's predicament. It had been pushed to the back of his mind, perhaps, with his newfound situations with Asuna and Takanashi, but it was still important, needless to say. Kazuto knew, anyway, that this was an issue that would continue to persist until it was somehow, resolved, one way or another.

_I couldn't possible give up on Yui, anyway._

Sighing, Kazuto watched his breath fog the glass for a moment before wiping it away with his sleeve.

_I'll bring us all together. One way or another. _

_Because that's what family is._

* * *

**Your reviews always inspire me to update faster! Thanks for reading!**


	18. Love to Hate

**Hope this chapter isn't too long. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 18: Love to Hate

_August, one year after launch of Sword Art Online_

The mechanisms within the door's handle clicked softly as Hitomi shut it, trying to be as subtle as possible, despite the fact that the person inside would not awake due to the noise. Only fate would bring the girl in the hospital room back. Standing in the dark hall for a moment to contemplate the slight folly of her actions, the nurse shook her head and was about to go back to the front desk when a voice sounded behind her.

"How's she doing?"

Turning, Hitomi saw Gokou, the head nurse, standing behind her. She had to squint slightly to make out the older woman's face; they were both working very late into the night, and a glance at the clock would have told her that it was well past midnight. Despite how long it had been since the tragedy known as Sword Art Online, there were still days when the hospital's resources were stretched thin from caring for all of the local victims. Meaning that somebody had to work late, and she needed the money.

Taking a moment to glance at the door she had just so gently closed, Hitomi shrugged and answered, "As fine as all the rest, I suppose."

Smiling at those words, Gokou turned and headed down the hall, apparently expecting the younger employee to follow. Hitomi obliged her, falling into step besides the fellow nurse until they'd reached a vending machine, its glowing lights bathing that area of the otherwise dark hall an almost blinding white. Taking a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness, she waited while Gokou bent down and bought something from the machine. Popping open a can of juice and taking a brief swig, the head nurse looked over at her and said,

"Does anything about her...stand out to you?"

Knowing the true intent behind the inquiry but choosing to ignore it, Hitomi shrugged a second time and said, "She has pretty hair."

"You know what I meant," Gokou said in exasperation. "Do you recognize her?"

"We've only met once, and at that time even I wouldn't have come up to your knee," Hitomi snorted as she brushed passed the other nurse and knelt to choose her own refreshment from the vending machine. "Why is it so important, anyways?"

Gokou took her turn to shrug and took another sip from her can to get her thoughts in order. "Well, you don't run into circumstances like yours every day. Were you surprised to see her, at first?"

"Naturally. It isn't like I'm keeping contact with that side of the family. We aren't even necessarily related."

Despite her retorts, however, Hitomi knew that she could not deny the connection between herself and the comatose girl in room 20-B. The smooth, angled face, the honey-colored hair that tumbled down her sides in the moonlight...these were all features she had never seen before. Regardless, she had felt some sort of relation to the girl named Yuuki Asuna.

Gokou smirked somewhat at the girl's insistence and finished off her drink, tossing it in the trash. "Have you decided what to do about your father, yet?"

_Leave it to her to bring up all the touchy subjects,_ Hitomi thought as she hid behind her drink for a moment. Older the head nurse may be, but the woman lacked any sort of tact whatsoever.

_Though she does have a point._ She really didn't know what to do about her father, just yet. After years of living under one's thumb, how does an individual muster the courage and devotion to escape the oppression? On the surface, it seemed simple, even to her; there was nothing left for her regarding her father. Her mother was dead, and her father's immediate family always did their best to maintain a healthy distance, not that their own family had done much to mend this. And her father's half brother...well, that wasn't really an option either.

So there was nothing left for Hitomi with him. Her old man had never been a kind person; rather, someone prone to leaving scars, both physical and emotional. She had to resist the urge to reach up and trace a finger along the lance-like scar running from her collarbone to the edge of her shoulder; a mark, a reminder of the days when there had been no escape from the terror of the man who had helped create her.

But now, there was a chance. An opportunity. Through what felt like an improbable stroke of luck, her father had fallen victim to the SAO crisis; and while Hitomi could in no way celebrate the tragedy, she could at least be glad of her father's effective removal from her life. It had been almost alien at first, being able to return home and not have to fear the strike of a palm against her flesh, the pain of hurtful words from a tongue that yearned to lash at her heart. It was due to these developments that Hitomi had been able to study and become accepted to Tokyo University, somewhere her father would not have wanted her to go, but this act of defiance had been the first step.

She couldn't live under her father's shadow anymore. So the only logical course of action was to disappear. Vanish, while he was still removed from this world, and walking the plains of some virtual reality. Though of course, there was always the fear and hope that he would not even bother to come after her; Hitomi knew that her father didn't love or care for her, after all, so was there really any need to fear pursuit once she had fled? It didn't seem so, but her instincts still felt the need to make assurances.

"It's not such an easy thing to decide," Hitomi said at last, noticing that Gokou seemed impatient to hear her response. Hopefully, this would deter any further discussion on the topic.

The head nurse would have none of it. "You could be running out of time, you know. It's been a year since that death game pulled the string on everyone, and one of the victims might clear the final level at any moment. Which means you won't have the luxury of time."

"Why is it any of your business?" Hitomi snapped at last, resorting to hostility to end the conversational topic. "It doesn't concern you."

Gokou narrowed her eyes at the younger woman's attitude. "I'm just worried about you, is all. I'm sorry if I probed too deeply, but I worry you'll never escape your father's influence. You might not be able to admit it, but he does have a hold on you. Can you truly deny that?"

Hitomi crushed the aluminum can in her can and tossed it angrily at the trash can, just clipping the edge. She watched the drink clatter noisily off to the side of the hall and resolved to pick it up later. Breathing heavily out of her nose, she said, "No, I can't. But I can change that. If I leave him, I can change that. I doubt he'll make much of an effort to get me back; so running is a foolproof option."

"Most wouldn't recommend that you run from your problems."

"But it's the only out I have," Hitomi said in a monotone, walking over to the fallen can and tossing it properly into the trashcan. "I can't change who he is; the man's been twisted beyond salvation. I can't depose him, because he holds all the advantages over me. I can't compromise, because to him, everything is all or nothing. But I don't need to depend on his business, or his apparent acumen. I can make it on my own. So the only option is to run."

Gokou watched the girl's face twist as she spoke those words, feeling the driving sympathy piling up inside her chest. Reaching out to pat her shoulder affectionately, she tried her best to communicate her empathy without words. Stubborn or not, Hitomi was a good person at heart; she was honest to herself and to others.

Glancing behind her and down the hall, the head nurse broke her own resolution and asked, "Do you ever plan to tell her?"

Hitomi followed the woman's gaze and said, "Who, Asuna? No. She doesn't need to know about her connection to such a horrible person."

"She might find out on her own, someday."

"If that's what's meant to be, there is nothing I can do to stop it," The younger woman said. "My father probably knows about her, but I also doubt that he cares. He's never shown much interest in his half brother's family."

Gokou sighed. "Family's do have a nasty habit of tangling in the worst ways though, don't they?"

"Yeah. And in any case, I think she will find out."

"Why?"

"Her brother. He works for him."

"Ah..."

* * *

Kazuto was irked awake one morning by the insistence of the doorbell.

It was a cold day in the middle of winter break, some months into the school year, with a light December frost spreading its thin fingers across the windows of the apartment. Grunting something incoherent and cracking his eyes open a quarter-inch, the man shifted and duly noted the newfound roughness of the stubble on his chin which had appeared overnight; a shaving would be in order. Despite the wild tales of success men had had with women when they sported impressive facial hair, Kazuto had never been one to catch onto the bandwagon.

Meanwhile, the doorbell continued its incessant calling, and he sighed into the pillow, briefly considering waiting until the visitor gave up and chose to leave them alone. It was another Saturday morning, with a setting perfect for sleeping in and escaping one's worries for an extra hour or so. The sky outside was gray and oppressive, dotted here and there with the minuscule flakes of premature snow floating about in the atmosphere, the temperature still too warm to keep them from evaporating before touchdown. It was like nature was insisting he go back to the warm embrace of his disturbed slumber.

But the doorbell had other ideas, because its rate of ringing only increased. Groaning in aggravation, Kazuto forced himself to leave the bed, and Asuna, in order to answer it. Taking a brief glance in the mirror to make sure he was at least slightly presentable, he padded down the hall and reluctantly pulled open the door. Sticking his neck through the opening, he was about to demand a hell of a good explanation for the early disturbance, but the words died in his throat.

"Morning," Kirigaya Midori began with an arched eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping in tested patience. Taking a moment to allow his currently panicking brain to settle down somewhat, Kazuto took a cursory glance at the frigid sky above him and said, "Morning."

After the words passed his lips, he tried briefly to figure out reasons why his mother would want to visit him at seven in the morning in the middle of the winter. To check up on them? To demand something? For recreation? Regardless of how many brain cells he dedicated to the task, Kazuto was still too tired to figure it out completely. Suppressing a yawn for fear of coming off as rude, he was about to admit his mother into the apartment when another pair of footsteps approached from behind him.

"Who is it?" Asuna murmured, her voice still obscured by the affects of sleep. Walking up behind him and reaching up on her toes, she hugged him from behind and peeked over Kazuto's shoulder, trying to see the face of the visitor.

The moment she realized who she was looking at, however, a flush dominated her cheeks and she let go of the visitor's son immediately. Trying and failing to disguise the stammer in her voice, Asuna said, "Ah...ah, welcome, Kirigaya-san."

Midori smiled in amusement at the exchange. "Thank you very much. Now, could I please come inside? It's freezing out here and my bones aren't capable of withstanding it anymore."

* * *

"Suguha wanted to come with me too, but some things came up with her schedule, so she'll be arriving later," Kazuto's aunt explained as Asuna prepared the best tea she could manage from the small kitchen.

"You could have called us about visiting, you know," Kazuto complained from his seat next to the older woman at the coffee table. "Then we wouldn't have to greet you like this."

"A great man once said that if you want to know someone, you should drop by when they're least prepared for it," Midori said sagely, closing her eyes and nodding in approval of her own eloquence.

"Which great man was that?"

"The name isn't important, Kazuto. Take wisdom where you can get it."

"I would if there were any."

"Are you insulting your mother?"

"Here's some tea," Asuna sang out as she swept into the area with a tray adorned with small cups of china. Smiling gratefully for the warming drink, Midori took a generous sip before wrapping her fingers around the cup. The older woman waited until Asuna had seated herself beside her son before studying them both with a knowing smile on her face, an expression that made Kazuto remember every bad thing he'd ever done in his lifetime.

"So," His mother said, looking at both of them in even intervals, "How long did it take for you to break the rule about sharing a bed?"

Asuna's ears flamed like she'd just consumed the world's spiciest ramen, and Kazuto choked on the cup of tea he'd just begun drinking. While his partner desperately tried to get rid of the horrid blush spreading over her entire face, Kazuto cleared his scalded throat and said to a skeptical Midori, "I...ah...that isn't a very appropriate way to start out a conversation, is it?"

The older Kirigaya snorted and set her tea on the table. "I'm not intending to persecute the two of you if my assumptions were right. You're both adults capable of making your own decisions. It was just a simple question."

Sighing as the strain on his throat began to subside, Kazuto wondered if the woman was telling the truth. Of course, after being so busy every day with work and business, he supposed she would have developed the habit of keeping interactions short and to the point. However, he also knew that his aunt was notorious for her skill with teasing people beyond reason. Whether it was this side of Midori he was dealing with, or the other, could not be said. Which was why she was such a confusing woman.

"I see...well, not...long?" Kazuto answered cautiously.

Midori smirked at the two of them. "As in, the first night?"

He cursed inwardly when Asuna flushed a second time, wishing the girl was capable of greater composure, not that he felt so poised at the moment, himself. It was almost like his mother had come just for the sole purpose of making them uncomfortable; then it occurred to him that Midori was exactly the kind of person to do that.

Sighing in mock exasperation, the older woman chuckled, "I know I said I wanted grandchildren someday, but I didn't have anytime so soon in mind..."

Now it was Asuna's turn to hack on a drink of tea. "We did nothing of the sort!" She spluttered, trying to speak against the swallow of hot water running down her throat and struggling with it. Midori just arched an eyebrow at her, despite the fact that she herself was trying to keep her laughter at bay.

Kazuto sighed, rubbing his lover's back to help with her recovery. "You came all the way over here just to ask that, didn't you?"

"Well, it was one of the things I was looking forward to," Midori admitted, shrugging with a betraying smile. "By the way, Kazuto, don't you have work today?"

"Not for some hours. It's still quite early, you know."

"The sun's in the sky. It stopped being early a while ago."

"That's just you."

A knock at the door.

"I'll go get it," Asuna volunteered this time, apparently seeking some privacy to recover from her issues with the tea and Midori's words. Still coughing somewhat, she disappeared down the hall to answer the door.

Meanwhile, Kazuto shot an exasperated glance at his mother. The moment Asuna had come out of rehab from both the SAO and ALO incidents, he had expected the older Kirigaya to get her licks in when it came to teasing his partner. Surprisingly, none of that had taken place during their remaining high school days and the subsequent summer. It had only now come to Kazuto's attention that she had been watching, observing, noting the things she could say to put both of them in flustered states.

Laughing now, Kazuto said, "You sure enjoy toying with her, eh?"

"It's no fun to mess with you anymore. You're too used to it. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Bother Sugu?"

She laughed at that. "She's too innocent to understand half of the jokes I'd make."

"True."

Humming in agreement, his mother lifted the tea to her lips and finished the rest of it. Sighing and setting the china back down on the table, the older woman said, "Your sister misses you too."

Kazuto blinked at the mention of Suguha. It had been one of his many regrets that he had been unable to give a proper goodbye to his sister; she had been away for a couple days on a trip with some friends when he'd left for college, and so the farewell had been exchanged over the phone. But how much could you say without the presence of a face and contact? While he knew that he and Sugu would always be close, he had wanted to spend some more time with her in reality after everything that had happened in ALfheim. Even after his issues with Takashi and the many conundrums caused by Rika and Keiko, Sugu had been there for him, whether it was to scold or console. He'd wanted to thank her for that.

Love and friendship was one of the most important things in the world, but there wasn't something quite like family.

"How is she doing?" He asked.

Midori seemed to have to think over the answer to that question. "Well, she's fine overall, just acting a bit...lonely?" She said almost speculatively. "She would always tell me about the things the two of you would do together once you woke up, but when you did circumstances didn't allow for her goals to take shape. It must be disappointing, regardless of how old you are."

Kazuto stared thoughtfully at the table. "I knew, or at least to some extent, that she wanted to spent more time with me. And I feel bad too, for being unable to do that for her. Do you think it's too late for those things, anymore?"

His mother smiled at him. "Well for starters, why don't you take her out for a little while? Maybe not today, with your work, but if you can open up a hole in your schedule it couldn't be too much trouble to have some hours for your sister."

He nodded in affirmation and reached over to collect the tea cups, gathering them up on the tray and depositing the lot in the kitchen to be cleaned later. "Sometime next week, for sure. Is there anything particular she might have had in mind?"

Midori leaned back in her chair and grinned at her son. "Well, she does seem to have great interest in sharing a bed with you, for a night."

The man was so badly startled by the suggestion that his wrists jerked, sending the china tumbling into the sink. Whirling around, he resisted the urge to demand the woman to clarify herself and said, "What in the world makes you think that?"

"When I stopped by her room to say goodnight, sometimes she'd be laying there, murmuring something," The older Kirigaya explained a bit more earnestly, though a smile still tugged at the corners of her lips. "It wasn't very easy to make out, but I could figure she wanted to just fall asleep with you there. Come now, Kazuto. Is that really so horrible? She's your sister, after all."

Down the hall, Kazuto heard the sounds of the door opening and a conversation being exchanged between Asuna and the newcomer. It appeared to be another woman. Midori tilted her head and nodded at the man.

Sugu was here.

* * *

"I didn't expect the winters here to be so cold," Kazuto said as he leaned against the railing of the apartment's balcony, looking over at the smaller buildings stretching out before him.

"It was even colder back home sometimes, while you were sleeping," His sister said, leaning against the door to the balcony with her knees drawn up to her chest, forcing her brother to look anywhere but at her skirt.

Once Suguha had arrived, Midori had made an initially confusing suggestion; she and Asuna would stay inside and chat for a little while, so Kazuto should take his sister out to the balcony and have a conversation of his own. Asuna had looked rather terrified at having to speak alone with his mother, a sentiment he couldn't blame her for, after what the older woman had said about their sharing the same bed. Nevertheless, here he stood, on the balcony speaking with his sister.

Slightly concerned about how Asuna's conversation was going.

If he turned, Kazuto knew he would be able to see the two women having their back-and-forth, but he chose not to. Even if he were to look, he had the feeling he wouldn't understand what he'd see.

"Why were they colder?" He asked, turning to face her, leaning the backs of his elbows against the railing.

She smiled back up at him.

"Because you weren't there, silly."

Whether it was known to Kazuto or not, Suguha had had to struggle through her own test of adversity from the SAO crisis. Firstly, she had been forced watch as the boy who had been her lifelong brother grew farther and farther from not just her, but the entire family. What had driven him to force such a great distance between them? Had it been a fault of her own? Was she somehow responsible for Kazuto's actions? Back then, when she hadn't known the truth of their blood relations, Suguha had found nobody to blame but herself. Their mother was a wonderful and hardworking, while she was but a child, prone to mistakes. It had to have been her fault. What other reason could there be?

So she had decided to try. To be the best little sister anybody could wish to have, by becoming better, by improving herself. Yet despite her efforts, the rift had only continued to grow. Before, when their eyes had met his would always warm in recognition of someone he loved. Now they darkened, as if he were seeing a mistake, some sort of failure, what wasn't meant to be.

Despite these developments, she had continued to tell herself to try. It was obvious that the distance between them had grown to great proportions, but her onii-chan was still here, in the same house, under the same roof. SAO had been the final blow to her confidence and hope, really. It had taken her last remaining connection to Kazuto she'd had left; communication. How does one speak with a silent body in a coma? There had been cold mornings and nights where she'd sat in an almost deathly silence by his bedside, trying not to let the horrid fear consume her, the apprehension that Kazuto would die when she hadn't been able to amend their strife. Whether she was at fault for their emotional separation or not, Sugu had wanted her brother back, the one who had done his best to watch over her in times of need. Would he pass away without reclaiming that? Would he die a shadow of what she had known?

The notion had brought tears to her eyes countless times. After humiliating defeats in kendo, she had not shed them. During the lonely nights when both her brother and mother had been too busy for her, she had not succumbed. But in the face of losing Kazuto forever, she had cried like a newborn baby. Simply seeing his inhumanly pale, drawn face, and the eyes that had been closed for what felt like eternity, were enough to drive her over her limit. Yet she still stayed by his side, through some sort of twisted sense of need to protect her brother.

Sighing and watching his breath billow out in front of him, Kazuto said simply, "I'm sorry."

Sugu tilted her head at him. "You apologized a long time ago."

"I know, but...once isn't really enough, is it?"

"Apologizing twice doesn't make you any more sorry," His sister scolded him. She stood up and walked over to his spot on the balcony. "But it doesn't make you less regretful, either. So one earnest apology is just enough."

Kazuto smiled and turned back to face the world outside as Suguha joined him, their shoulders brushing together companionably. "When did you become so smart?"

"When did you become so hairy?" Came the slight retort, as a pair of soft fingers reached out to stroke the early morning stubble which had developed on the man's jaw.

Reaching up to feel at it himself, Kazuto said, "All men have facial hair, you know. And I'm well past eighteen years old now; wouldn't it be abnormal for me _not_ to have stubble?"

"But it makes you look old," Sugu said with a small laugh. Kazuto snorted and lightly slapped his sister's probing fingers away.

"So, how's the college life?" Suguha queried, searching for a shift in topic. "Have you been fined for DUI yet?"

"What kind of a view do you have on college students?" Kazuto asked in dismay. "And I don't even drink."

"Then why do you look so disheveled in the morning?"

He blushed at the question. "Well that's...due to different reasons."

"Making progress with Asuna, eh?"

"Don't speak of things you don't understand."

Suguha snorted at the suggestion. "Contrary to what you might believe, Asuna has confided in me."

"Confided?"

She snickered in self-satisfaction and took a step back, putting both hands on her hips. "Girls like to have their talks, you know? Asuna has chosen to share some of her experiences with me, so you could at least say that I have great understanding of what I'm talking about, Onii-chan."

Of course, Kazuto had learned long ago that he would never and should never attempt to comprehend the things girls talked about in private. For one reason, there were some things he was best off not knowing; and secondly, the topics of discussion were ones he was poorly versed in.

"What aspect of our relationship did she confide with you, exactly?" He said, trying to sound uninterested.

She grinned maliciously at him, and his heart skipped a beat.

"You like it when she bites you under the chin, don't you?"

There was a moment of silence as Kazuto stared, thunderstruck, at his little sister. Then:

"I am going to murder that woman."

"Oh, please..."

After Kazuto had calmed down somewhat, Sugu had both of them sit down against the door to the balcony, staring out at the looming clouds above and allowing the flow of conversation to die out for the time being. Suddenly, it occurred to the girl just how much her opinion on Asuna had changed over the months. At first, she had almost hated the very idea of the girl; her brother was finally awake and free to be with her, but instead he was fretting over someone he'd met in the very game which had separated them to begin with. Her heart had ached every time she'd watched him hurry out the door to go to the hospital, or whenever Kazuto sat silently in his room, preoccupied with the idea of her predicament.

Was she really so little to him? It had seemed almost preposterous to Sugu that a comatose woman had a greater pull on Kazuto than herself. What had Asuna done to possess her brother's heart so? While Suguha had been immensely happy to find that her brother was acknowledging her existence once more, he remained distracted by the sleeping girl in room 20-B of the local hospital.

Her thoughts had first begun to shift when she laid eyes on her. Sugu had taken it upon herself to tag along with Kazuto during one of his visits, intent on seeing what made this woman so special to her brother. Upon walking into the room, she had cast about wildly until her eyes rested on the comatose form on the bed.

And they had remained there.

She was beautiful. Captivatingly, dangerously beautiful. Soft, honey-colored hair cascading down her sides, a graceful face which looked alive, even in effective death. Suguha almost alleviated her brother of all her grievances on the spot; if she were a man, she knew she would have fallen for the woman before her in an instant.

But she had kept her guard up. Appearances were not everything; there were still many things Sugu needed to know before she could even begin to accept it. This defiance had continued until that frigid night where she'd walked out of the bath to find her brother in tears. Shocked at this unprecedented display of weakness, she had fallen to her knees to discover the source of his grievances. And who else but Asuna? She was going somewhere far away, he'd told her. Somewhere he couldn't reach her. It was only then that Suguha realized the extent to which Kazuto loved Asuna. Their connection was strong enough to break down the tough barriers he had learned to throw up around himself after years of terror within the death game. How could she, his sister, stand between such an extraordinary bond?

"Hey," Sugu voiced suddenly, attracting her brother's attention. "I'd like to meet Yui, someday."

Kazuto smiled sadly at her. "Once we get her back, I'll be sure to arrange a meeting between you two."

"What was she like?"

He thought about that for a moment. "Innocent, yet intelligent...earnest, yet childish all at the same time. She'd changed once Asuna and I went back after our VR ban was lifted, though. She wasn't so oblivious to the ways of the world anymore. It hurt to see, really," He admitted with a strained laugh. "But I had to accept it as it was."

Suguha hummed in contemplation. "Do you think you'll ever see her again?"

"Of course I will," Kazuto said without a trace of doubt.

She smiled. "You were never one to give up so easily, were you?"

"I would have died a long time ago, otherwise."

"It disturbs me that you can joke about death so easily."

Kazuto smirked. "Would you rather I was a melancholy schmo with no motivation?"

They both shared a laugh at that, after which Sugu sighed and let her weight fall on her brother, burying her nose into his shirt. Kazuto reached up and rubbed languidly at her hair, accepting the approach as it was. They stayed like that for a while, sibling and sibling, enjoying a rare moment of silence where no words were needed.

"Onii-chan," Sugu said suddenly.

"Mm?"

"I miss you, sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

Shut up," She laughed, punching him in the gut. "Just make sure you visit home a few times, okay?"

"Alright."

"...Thanks."

* * *

After the chilly morning he spent with Sugu, Kazuto's daily lifestyle slipped into a relative monotony. There were no more attacks from acquaintances within Aincrad, neither of their families dropped by for any more unannounced visits, and they had finally adjusted to the weather. Kazuto could feel the concept of the daily grind settling into his bones; the only connection he had left to SAO was the research he compiled on a nearly daily basis, searching for a way to bring Yui into reality.

He had long since decided that this was their greatest and only option. Altering her data to conform towards another game format had a ridiculously high chance of backfiring. Asuna did her own fair share of research as well, but she was also aware that her data collecting skills did not even come close to her lover's, so she left most of that field to him. Instead, she used her many connections and friends to search for someone who might have expertise in the ties between virtual and actual consciousnesses, as well as keeping an ear out for any developments in the scientific field regarding the topic.

Despite these efforts, the couple made little progress. Even after what he'd learned about Hideki's cancelled project on memory grafting, Kazuto hadn't found much to take away from the newfound information. The excursion itself had been ended by the higher-ups, and since it had been a top-secret procedure, there was no more information on it available to the general public.

And so he was forced to fall into the slavery of daily routine, tortured by the knowledge that his efforts were making little difference but having no other avenues to pursue. It seemed like the outcome of Yui's fate would be up to, well, fate, something that made him immensely uncomfortable. He had lost all faith in the concept of divine intervention long ago, and relying on it for such a crucial issue was something he absolutely refused to do. He would pass through the kitchen sometimes and find Asuna praying to God about Yui; and while he appreciated the effort she was putting in, he didn't see the point. Neither of them had survived until now through prayer. It had been through self-proficiency.

Their work in college was challenging, but not overwhelming. After all, they could still find the time in the day to search for an answer to their question on Yui. The only objection to this came from Hitomi, who was there to witness how much energy the young couple was devoting to the salvation of their daughter. She herself did not fully comprehend the story of the AI and the Cardinal System's persecution, but she did understand that it was mentally and emotionally taxing on them. There were times when she was telling Asuna a story, and the younger woman would blink and snap back to reality, her mind preoccupied with something else. And despite her denials, Hitomi knew what this "something else" was.

Nevertheless, Kazuto and Asuna did not slow or cease their efforts. For to give up was to lose, and losing had stopped being an option the moment they had awoken within Aincrad. If Kayaba Akihiko had left behind any lasting legacy, it was this lesson, which he had left ingrained within every last survivor of his death game.

Despite this, he knew he couldn't allow his search for an answer to take away from his obligation to the rest of his loved ones. He still devoted as much energy as possible at work, astonishing some of his superiors with his progress and work ethic. Only Hideki could attribute anything to the man's recent increase in efficiency, but he chose to say nothing, trusting Kazuto to do with right thing, who had decided it would be best to keep work and Yui separate. The two had no place among each other, and he had he feeling people wouldn't understand the importance of his research. Due to this, he had never expected the two to clash.

The moment of revelation had come when he'd least expected it. It was his lunch break, a languid Wednesday, and he'd been sitting on an iron bench behind the building when he phone buzzed.

Fishing the device out of his pocket, Kazuto answered the call, which came from an unknown number, and pressed the receiver to his ear.

"Hello?"

_"Good afternoon, Kirigaya-san."_

His pulse increased. He knew that voice.

_"Where are you right now?"_

"Who is this, exactly?"

_"You are currently speaking to the head executive of the country's financial leader, boy. Now I suggest you listen before you speak."_

Kazuto's fingers turned white as they tightened around the casing of his phone. He was speaking to Fuzen? But why? How?

_"Come up to my office in one hour. Bring the girl." _

"The girl?"

_"Miss Yuuki, if you do require a name. Do you have any objections?"_

Deciding it wouldn't be best to answer sarcastically to that question, Kazuto said levelly, "I'd like a reason for this."

"_Fine, then. It concerns that bastard child wandering around inside the SAO servers at this very moment, so if that isn't enough incentive for you to come willingly, I can do it by force."_

His fingers almost crushed the titanium reinforced phone between his palm, but Kazuto forced himself to control the surge of nigh-uncontrollable anger and answer through seething teeth, "I'll see you in an hour, _sir."_

_"Don't keep me waiting."_

The line went dead.

Resisting the urge to hurl the cell at the concrete floor, he stuffed the device back into his pocket, mind racing furiously. For whatever reason, the president of the country's financial leader wanted to see him, and his intent seemed malicious.

And he intended to drag Asuna into it as well, it seemed.

Briefly, Kazuto considered going to the office without Asuna. He had absolutely no idea what Fuzen could want with him; he was just grasping at straws here. But he did have the gut feeling that nothing good would come of it, and Kazuto would obviously keep both of them from entering a hostile situation if he could help it.

_It concerns that bastard child of yours._

Who was he kidding? Asuna was just as capable as he was. Pulling his phone back out, Kazuto dialed the right number and pressed it to his ear, waiting.

_"Hello?"_

* * *

"What does Fuzen want with us, exactly?" Asuna whispered to him as the elevator continued its ascent.

Kazuto watched the blinking buttons on the wall indicate that they were nearing the top floor and said, "I don't know. He wouldn't say, though I have an idea of what it could be."

"What?"

"Hideki's information leak in his office. He made a joke about the room possibly being bugged, but I think it actually might have been. It would give Fuzen more than enough reason to have an issue with us."

Asuna narrowed her eyes at the topmost button, the one which indicated Fuzen's current residence. "I don't like it, Kazuto. It feels as if we're walking into a trap; we have no idea what the circumstances are, or what we'll be facing. What if we don't come out of this unscathed?"

Kazuto gripped her hand with his. "Don't worry. I won't allow that to happen."

The elevator _dinged_, the automatic doors hissing open to allow their entry into the top floor. Swallowing thickly, he led Asuna into the hall. The entire floor here belonged to the president; there were three rooms branching off from a long hall, probably containing some sort of living residence. Trusting his knowledge of the layout of the building, Kazuto pulled Asuna towards the central oaken door and raised a fist, ready to knock, but looking at his lover for confirmation first. She nodded at him, and his fisted fell upon the wood three times in quick succession.

"The door's not locked, you know," Came a deep voice from the other side. Tensing up in apprehension, he reached out and twisted the knob open, pushing the door aside.

He was sitting behind a desk opposite the door, the shades pulled down to form a halo around his silhouette where the sun managed to leak through the coverage. Kazuto couldn't quite make out the man's face in the reversed lighting, but he didn't need to, already knowing Fuzen's face very well from his research on the web. Behind him, Asuna gripped his hand even harder and walked up to stand beside him, raising her chin in an attempt to seem confident in herself.

There was an intense moment of silence as Fuzen observed both of them, cooly ignoring Kazuto's attempts to engage him in a staring war. Finally, he cleared his throat, tossing a dead cigar into the trash, and said,

"Goodness, the two of you are nothing more than children. I am almost ashamed to have to devote so much attention to you."

His voice was deep, rumbling, and devoid of empathy. The true incarnation of a businessman who was drunk on his success.

Kazuto gritted his teeth, still seething over the man's comments about Yui. "You called us here, Fuzen. What do you want?"

Fuzen tutted at them, lighting another cigar between his teeth. "Is that such a proper way to address your boss? It might not bode so well for the future of your job you know."

"If you had wanted to fire me, you would have done it a long time ago."

"You make a good point there, Kirigaya," Fuzen agreed, nodding his head vigorously. "And I'll tell you why, too." He gestured at Asuna, who glared daggers back at him. "They say you should keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Well, I've taken my own version of that proverb. It was become a..._hobby_ of mine to make life hell for those who create unsavory difficulties for me, but what is the point of that if you let them get far? No, far more entertaining to keep them close, to watch them struggle and weep and stumble. Do you not agree?"

Asuna, by now immensely irritated by the president's attitude and atmosphere, snapped, "You might be a disgusting human being, but keeping Kazuto in your building doesn't mean he's _suffering._"

"Asuna," Kazuto warned her, squeezing her hand. "Not now."

Fuzen shook his head. "No, Kirigaya, now. I can see that I am testing the young lady's patience, so I will get straight to the point." Pulling the half-used cigar out of his mouth and turning it a few times between his fingers, the older man made eye contact with both of them and said bluntly, "I am the one responsible for Yui's data alteration."

Kazuto had to restrain Asuna from diving at the desk with death in mind when those words passed the man's lips. He couldn't say he didn't feel the same horrid anger as his lover, but he at least knew that acting out said anger would only result in strife for themselves, and satisfaction for the smug man before them.

"It was a simple maneuver, really," Fuzen said, shrugging as if IT really had been nothing. "I own the rights to the servers, so it only took a few orders to have a cyber attack aimed at your full-dive specs. You did install some firewalls on the system, but those didn't prove too difficult."

Kazuto managed to pull Asuna behind him and spat out, "Why? What do you possibly gain from trapping Yui?"

Again, Fuzen shrugged, slipping the cigar back into his mouth. "You're a smart boy, Kirigaya. So, I will assume that you know about where I was two years ago."

Of course, he knew. When he'd first developed suspicions about Complexity's president, Kazuto had gone out of his way to compile some information on the man. Most notable was Fuzen's history with SAO; he had been one of the ten thousand victims, as well as one of the six thousand survivors.

"I read that article on your court case," Kazuto said, not even bothering to keep the malice out of his tone. "You were accused of being responsible for the deaths of eight hundred players. It's amazing you escape it without any charges. Only one guild in SAO could have killed that many."

"Precisely. I was part of Laughing Coffin," Fuzen said. "Or, more precisely, I was its leader."

Asuna's breath hitched. "PoH...? But...but he disappeared! Nobody knows his whereabouts."

Fuzen rolled his eyes. "When you have the country's best lawyers and friends in the government in your pocket, dear, you'll find it quite easy to make a person vanish from the face of the earth."

"That still doesn't explain your reasons for persecuting Yui," Kazuto growled, beginning to succumb to the urge to attack, himself.

"I'm getting to that. You see, I had great hopes for Akihiko's world. I was able to personally witness the game while it was in its development stages. Imagine, a world without proper laws, where the strong survive and the weak are nothing. That's the way it should be. Although it was only a burgeoning interest at first, once I learned that I would be trapped inside the game forever I began to carry out the building of an empire. If I was to live my days inside this damned castle in the sky, it would be under my own terms. However, the _heathens_ felt otherwise. These fools, these self-righteous airheads, took it upon themselves to eradicate Laughing Coffin, and in effect, my dreams for dominion. You were among them. _You_ ended what could have been destiny, and for that you will pay."

"That is the most immature, _unreasonable_ explanation I've heard in my _life_," Asuna burst out, breaking free of Kazuto's grip and storming up to the man. Before anyone could stop her, she jabbed two fingers into Fuzen's chest and said, "Only a _child_ would throw a tantrum at not having things go his way, and try to exact revenge for it. You look older than my mother, yet you're not even half as mature! How dare you put the life of our _daughter_ in jeopardy simply to satisfy a personal vendetta that no one else even cares about anymore? Does your life really lack that much meaning!?"

"Asuna!" Kazuto almost shouted, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. "Nothing good will come of threatening him. Calm down."

"The boy's right," Fuzen said blandly. "What will you do? Sue me? You don't have the funds to keep a court battle going. Will you kill me? You'd receive the death penalty yourselves, for being responsible. Your parents would even be jailed. Don't you fools see? I brought you up here and riled you up _purposefully._ I wanted to tell you the truth behind it all simply to see the looks of horror and disgust on your faces, because it _satisfies_ me, and I know there's nothing you can do about it."

It was only then that Kazuto realized the hopelessness of their situation. There really was no out against Fuzen's manipulation. The president probably wouldn't fire him or Hideki, since that would be too suspicious, but it also meant that Kazuto would have to work under the older man's gaze with the torturous knowledge that he was responsible for everything that had happened to Yui, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it whatsoever.

The notion made him sick.

"You might think you are invincible to us, Fuzen," Kazuto said, just barely keeping his voice under control. "But I've lived a life of underestimation. And every time an opponent's taken me for granted, I've at least come close to beating them. Don't think it'll be any different this time."

The executive smirked at both of them over the tip of his cigar. "In that case I beg of you, do try," He said. "It will e enormously entertaining to watch."

Asuna scoffed in disgust and whirled around, almost running out of the room. Kazuto was glad she had kept herself from striking Fuzen; that would have thrown everything to hell. Certain amounts of restrain were necessary, even if he also wanted to hit the man's nose until it was no more.

Turning back to look at Fuzen, who was smiling easily at him, Kazuto said without emotion, "Even if I lose, it'll be a hell of a lot of trouble for you."

Then he left the room, leaving Fuzen behind, but not his anger.

Deep inside, Kazuto knew he doubted his ability to thwart the president's plans. But the least he could do was try. For to give up was to lose, and defeat had ceased to be an option long ago.

_You've awakened my wrath, Fuzen._

_You'd better be damn ready for it._

* * *

**_Hope I've advanced the plot appropriately, here. Do leave your thoughts in the reviews, if you so wish. Thanks for reading!_**


	19. Counter Conspiracy

Chapter 19: Counter Conspiracy

The silence of churning minds dominated the central room in the apartment as three individuals sat in linked solitude, each of them contemplating what they did and did not know. Despite this, Kazuto and Asuna were both somewhat on the same page when it came to their thought processes; the two of them were awaiting the third resident's verdict.

It was dark outside. The birds were asleep.

Situated on the other chair of the eating table, Hideki's brow furrowed almost furiously in deep and captivated thought, to the extent that Kazuto began to worry for the state of the man's temper. Would he break, as he himself had almost done, and try to strike out like Asuna had? That, Kazuto suddenly decided as he awaited a reaction, was the difference between his issues with SAO in the real and virtual realms. Everyone's way of dealing with conundrums and obstacles in Aincrad had always involved some sort of violence or physical force; in reality, everything was a battle of wills and intellect, with brute strength acting as mere tools.

He hadn't exactly planned on having Hideki come over. After his and Asuna's confrontation with Fuzen, it had been decided between the two of them that her brother had to be informed of these latest developments, and as soon as possible. Despite the president's promise that he would not directly cause adverse effects in their lives, due to a desire to watch them suffer, it was obvious that they couldn't totally trust his word. Hideki may be in some sort of danger. A phone call had been answered by a tired sounding voice, but it become instantly alert when Kazuto mentioned the cancelled project. The words of information which followed, however, left the older man beyond dumbfounded.

"I'll be over in half an hour," He'd said tersely.

Now they waited, having told Hideki everything they knew, hoping for some sort of determined reaction, a declaration of a refusal to feel defeat or remorse, but this desire was promptly crushed by the stricken look on Asuna's brother's face. Kazuto had always felt that Hideki was both a dependable and capable person, and this notion still held fast. Anybody would feel at a loss in such a situation as theirs. But they needed answers now.

Finally, Hideki sighed and pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as if in some sort of pain. Asuna half-stood to assist him, but her lover thought it wise to stop her; it wouldn't do to disrupt the man's thinking process now.

After another minute of silence, Hideki looked up and met their eyes.

"This is singlehandedly the most disturbing thing I've ever been told in my entire life," He said at last, voice wobbling just slightly. "And while I have much faith in both my sister's credibility and yours, Kazuto, I must first ask you to confirm that none of the things you've told me were exaggerated."

"Nothing was exaggerated in the slightest," Kazuto said firmly. "Everything we told you is true to the bone."

Hideki's expression sagged at the confirmation, and he sat up a bit to lean into the back of the chair, grinding his teeth in agitation.

"I can't believe that Fuzen would do something like that," He said softly. "He's never been the most honest man on the planet, but he would never-"

"But he did, and you are also involved, as unfortunate as it is," Kazuto cut him off, trying to ignore his feelings of guilt and sympathy. If Hideki couldn't be reliable in this situation, the responsibility would fall to him. "I don't know your full history with him, Hideki, and to be frank I don't care. He's responsible for our separation from Yui, and he holds all the cards against us to make sure we can't do anything about it. I called you for two reasons: the first was to assure your safety and the second was to get a feel for the situation. If we sit around unable to do anything, we'll only suffer exactly as Fuzen wishes us to."

Hideki nodded at his words and adjusted his reading glasses. "Yes...of course," He said in ways of apology. "It is indeed unwise to lose one's cool, now. Though I must also apologize for informing you of the top secret project, Kazuto, regardless of the fact that it concerns your daughter. If you hadn't known, none of this would have taken place."

Kazuto shook his head. "No. Something like this would have come down, anyways. I'm sorry for dragging you into it; you haven't done anything wrong at all."

The older man smiled faintly at him before clearing his throat and placing his hands on the table to stabilize himself. Meanwhile, Asuna was still trying to keep herself under control; her verbal assault on Fuzen had not served to alleviate the pressure, but rather to increase it, acting as an incentive to invite more malice. Even though the enemy was not present at the moment, she still felt the instinct to hurt something, as if it would make things better. Thus her current silence.

Her brother took note of this and felt his heart break a fraction. She was younger than him, yet she'd gone through so much more. The world was indeed cruel.

Clearing his throat a second time, he deigned to speak. "It is true that Fuzen has effectively trapped all of us under his thumb. Also, I do believe that despite the fact that I was involved in this, he did not call me up with the two of you because he trusts that I will be informed regardless. Which means he will be watching me, as well. Kazuto and I will be under surveillance from now on whenever we are at work; that much, I can nearly guarantee."

"I thought that too," Kazuto agreed. "So I was thinking, wouldn't it be beneficial for at least one of us to quit our jobs at Complexity? And by logic, it should be me; my income isn't nearly so much as yours, so my stake in it isn't so large. It would be best to escape his influence."

Hideki shook his head in refusal. "There are still benefits on our side when it comes to keeping our jobs, which I will explain. And on an emotional level, wouldn't that be bruising for your ego?"

Kazuto smirked. "Does my ego matter?"

A slight smile in return. "In any case, we are in no way obligated to roll over and let Fuzen have his way with us. We have to get around this somehow."

Asuna made a small sound at that, and Kazuto turned to see if she had anything to say. The young woman fidgeted somewhat in a rare case of insecurity, then forced herself to open her mouth and speak.

"Hideki...you don't have to help us."

"And why not?"

"Like Kazuto said, you didn't do anything wrong," Asuna said almost timidly. "And you've never even met Yui. You don't have any reason for it."

Hideki snorted and leaned over to flick his sister on the head. "Stupid," He sighed. "Of course I have a reason."

"And what is that?"

He leaned back and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Nobody messes with my sister."

A look of partial understanding as well as skepticism crossed the girl's face, but in the end she simply nodded and retained her silence, although she did allow a small smile to flit across her face.

Kazuto also smiled at the brief exchange. "I really appreciate your help," He said earnestly. "But I don't know what there is we can do. We can't exactly take Fuzen down legally or even by brute force, because we'd end up facing harm through both routes."

Hideki grinned back at him with borderline childish slyness. "You have a point as usual, Kazuto. Though you did miss a very important fact: Fuzen is immature. I'd always looked up to him, but at the same time I was aware that he holds a childish stubbornness inside of him. He absolutely hates to lose. His lack of maturity is what drove him to keep Yui from the two of you; he feels that you are responsible for the fall of his potential virtual empire. The next action is, then, to keep him from his objective."

"You mean...get Yui back?" Asuna asked, brow furrowing in confusion. "I've spent hours and hours thinking about how we might do that, but I've never reached a viable conclusion. Altering her data to fit with non-Seed games would be suicide on her part, and the servers have been killed. How will we reach her?"

A look of passiveness shadowed the older man's face at this very moment. It struck Kazuto that he was about to make his main point. The subject of apprehension, however, was the possibility that their options were limited. And dangerous.

Hideki cleared his throat and licked his lips once before speaking. "The project I was working on before it was shut down. A way to extract the minds of the SAO victims and place them within pre-grown biocapsules, or as you could say, clones of their true selves. All of the research and breakthroughs have been made; I was about to authorize NPC trials before Fuzen intervened. The technology is there for us. All that remains is the execution."

Kazuto narrowed his eyes. "I thought you might say that. But is there not a serious risk to her well being?"

"Yes," Hideki said earnestly. "There is a twenty-seven percent chance that the consciousness will fail to transfer and the data will simply disintegrate; and since Yui is such an advanced computer, the statistics will be stacked even higher against your favor. Though I must also point out that Fuzen _will_ trash the servers, along with Yui, some time or another. Regardless of what he promises. The risk is great, but if am to be honest I believe it a better alternative."

Kazuto turned to look at Asuna, who quickly returned his gaze. No words were needed; the question passed between them like lightning. Do or don't? Act or wait? Of course, it was wiser to take a partial risk rather than guaranteed destruction, but there was still that fear, the apprehension of willingly putting their daughter's life on the line, even if the alternative was infinitely worse.

Returning her gaze to her brother, Asuna asked slowly, "Will there be residual effects? Any loss of memory or capability?"

Hideki rolled this over in his mind for a bit. "If the transfer is successful, there will be no memory issues. She will have to learn how to walk, however. As well as various other motor functions. Anything intellectually based will be unaffected, including speech, though she will have some difficulty forming words at first."

A moment of contemplation passed as the young couple thought this over, despite the apparent obvious choice before them.

Finally, they glanced at each other a final time before nodding. "We'll do it," Kazuto said.

Hideki nodded back solemnly, understanding the pain of such a decision, and stood up and out of his chair. "There isn't much else we can do today, so I'll be heading home to set things up. I will need a visual reference of some sort in order to properly grow the biocapsule; I'm assuming your NerveGear still contains image files of her?"

"Yes."

Asuna shook her head in disbelief. "It's almost surreal," She said. "Are you sure you can grow a body to look just like our daughter?"

Hideki smirked back at her. "Have some more faith in your brother."

"How will you access the server to extract Yui's data?" Kazuto asked.

The older man's temporary joking mood dissipated. "I'll have to ask some close friends about that," He said, completely understanding that dependence on others could become their downfall. After all, there was a rat in every boat. But what other option did they have?

Kazuto nodded in acceptance. There really was no other choice.

_After this, I hope it's all over._

* * *

Sand crunched languidly beneath his feet as he entered the small playground, doing his best to maintain a respectable silence despite an absence of other people. The night was warm, as if the sky were a dark blanket enveloping the very planet in a shroud that was both comforting and suffocating. Crossing to the other side of the circle of sand in which the playground was situated, Kazuto sat himself down in the swing and waited, for nothing in particular, as the moon carved its way across the heavens.

He didn't know how long he sat there, waiting for something to happen. Fidgeting under the stress of the need to act where there was nothing to be acted upon. A rough estimate by Hideki's calculations had stated that it would take several months to grow the "Yui Biocapsule". It normally would have taken twelve to produce a fully grown adult, even with accelerated cultivation technology, but due to her relative young age the process could be slashed. But this still meant that they would have to wait, bide their time and pray that nothing of misfortune would take place to ruin their conspiracy against Fuzen. It was a desperate gamble, really; everything depended on avoiding suspicion and discovery.

Shifting his weight backwards, Kazuto began to slowly swing himself back and forth. Briefly, he flashed back to the memory of Asuna praying to God for everyone's safety. It occurred to him then that perhaps the purpose of religion was not to provide comfort or ignorance, but to have someone to rely on, someone who was dependable. Asuna often spoke of the security and peace having a relationship with God brought her. Even if such an entity did not exist, was it worth the delusion if it brought confidence to one self? As much as he hated the fact, Kazuto knew that he had been through much more pain than most. Yet he did not seek the comfort and alleviation of religion that so many less tested individuals already had. Did being pushed to an extreme offer two choices of acceptance? If he had been raised differently or had a different personality, perhaps he would have become ridiculously devoted to a religion, seeking its guidance and protection in the face of such adversity.

_But whether I pray to a man in the sky or not, I can never stop relying on myself,_ Kazuto thought, rubbing at the rust-corroded metal of the swing chain. Regardless of the love and caring God could offer his people, he had also stated in his writings that he would allow his creations to live their own lives. Divine intervention was never to become commonplace. So prayer would remain a placebo effect, more a psychological assurance than anything else.

Not a difference maker.

Kazuto felt the shift in the air beside him but did not turn to address it immediately. It may have been a sense of fear, or maybe an acute laziness, but he did not turn his head to look. After all, he didn't want to know who was standing there.

"Good night," A young voice spoke out, demanding his attention regardless.

Breathing heavily out of his nose, Kazuto turned his head to the left and made eye contact with the small boy sitting atop the monkey bars.

"You tucking me in?"

Takashi snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't think our relationship is so solid just yet."

"Didn't know we had one to begin with."

Even as he spoke nonchalantly, Kazuto's mind was racing. What could he possibly be doing here, of all times? He had let Takashi go to start anew, despite the boy's attempt on their lives. Had that turned out, now, to be a fatal mistake? Had he come to finish what he had started?

Takashi brushed his wild hair behind his ear and said to him, "Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you."

"...Ah."

The boy on the monkey bars averted his gaze at the response and continued softly,

"I'm here to apologize."

Kazuto blinked.

Apparently deciding it wasn't best to start saying sorry immediately, Takashi cleared his throat and asked, "So...how have you been doing?"

"Fine," The older boy answered blandly, still struggling with the surreality of holding an honest conversation with someone who had tried to kill him.

Takashi frowned almost sadly at him.

"You don't look fine."

Of course, he wasn't actually fine. There were so many things to worry about. Yui. Asuna. His job. Fuzen. Keeping everything a secret from the rest of the family until the time was right. He could almost scream at the injustice of it all. These were burdens meant for wider shoulders. In his final days within Aincrad, he had fought for others, not just himself, but the weight of those obligations paled in comparison to his current ones. He had thought that pain would be lifted once he escaped from the virtual world, but they had only pursued him to strike tenfold.

"I'm dealing with some issues right now," Kazuto answered finally, laughing inside at the massive understatement. "Someone very important has been taken away from me."

Takashi half chuckled at the words. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

Feeling a small stab of guilt at being somewhat insensitive, the older boy nodded and said, "Yeah."

"Is it your girl?"

"No. My daughter."

The younger boy looked genuinely surprised to hear this. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a card-sized box and pulled a cigarette out of it, as well as producing a lighter to flame the other end, drawing a skeptical look from Kazuto.

"What, you smoke?"

"Yes."

"What are you, thirteen?"

"Fourteen. I'm practically a man, now."

"You're going to die early, kid."

"Want one?"

"Didn't you just hear what I said?"

Takashi hid his box and lighter away in his clothes once more and proceeded to slowly smoke his due. Kazuto still continued to eye him apprehensively, somewhat disturbed by the sight of such a young soul enjoying the ties of drugs, but said nothing.

The younger boy exhaled, clouded air billowing from his nostrils, and he pulled the cigarette out of his lips to speak. "You have to fight to protect what you have," He said softly. "But if you have nothing, you lack the right to fight."

"You can fight for yourself," Kazuto countered.

Takashi shook his head. "Maybe. But when I tried to take your life, as well as Asuna's, I wasn't doing it for my own satisfaction. I was doing it for my brother. As you knew him, Kuradeel. So in a sense, I didn't act for anything. Killing you would have been meaningless."

"Why did you do it, then?"

He coughed briefly before thinking his next words over carefully. "I...I was wrong," He said with some difficulty. "If my brother hadn't been dead, if there was still something for me to fight for, and you had still wronged him, I might have done it. But he is dead and I've come to terms with that. I came here to apologize for both of us, I guess. The brother I knew would never have tried to take another life; the game warped him. It sapped his morals away. When he tried to kill you, he also had nothing. And so he was wrong."

"But I also took a life," Kazuto said, leaning his elbows into his knees and clasping his hands together. "It haunts me, but I was responsible, in the end. How can you find it within yourself to forgive me so easily?"

Takashi smiled and stubbed his cigarette into the metal pole of a monkey bar, twisted the smashed end until all of the sparks had been extinguished.

"You fought to protect what you had," He said simply. "You fought for Asuna, didn't you? And now you're fighting for your daughter. As long as there's something to protect, no wrong has been committed. My brother and I both fought when we had nothing. And for that...I am truly sorry."

And then he was gone, vanishing into the night like a specter of darkness. Kazuto didn't watch him go; because watching would mean he might expect to see the young boy again, and he got the feeling that Takashi had just closed their connections to each other for the last time.

Sighing and staring up at the stars, he had to wonder about the boy's mentality. To be so satisfied with having nothing; it would have driven him crazy. How could such a young person decide that he had nothing left? Kazuto was years older than him and had yet to give up on what he wanted.

_Maybe there really is nothing for him._

Yet despite this, Kazuto felt that Takashi had somehow totally avoided another side to his philosophy: One may fight to protect what he has, but one may also fight to take back what is his. What did Takashi want? Was it happiness, was it vengeance, was it family? It made him almost uneasy to let the young boy walk away without the intention to pursue any of these things.

_There are many ways to die._

Be deceased a beloved, perish an enemy, die a mystery. It now came to his attention that death left very much to be desired; everyone would meet their end one way or another. The only control they had over that was how they would go out. That, he realized mournfully, was and always would be the difference between Yui and human beings. Even if she one day walked among them as an equal human in both capability and capacity, there would always be the one time she did not have control over her fate. As much as Kazuto disliked cliche'd sayings, her life was in his hands. In the end, Kazuto knew that he had a personal vendetta in this besides his daughter. The result of their foray, whether it was successful or not, would decide some very important things for him.

He had to be convinced that trying was worth it. He had poured his heart and soul into escaping Aincrad, yet it had followed him into reality and continued to plague him. He had always been a firm believer in the virtue that hard work could produce endless results; misfortune was simply a coincidental obstacle which could be simply crossed. Recent events had, however, weakened his faith in this. So much effort had gone into securing the well being of the people he loved; yet they all sat in perilous positions even as he stood here. If Yui were to die, if the transfer were to fail, it wouldn't just mean that he would have to accept that some things were beyond his control; no, he would be convinced that no amount of effort could produce a guarantee of anything.

_I guess I'll start going to church, then, if that happens._

* * *

And so, the true battle of wills began. Kazuto had to muster his courage at first to return to work; he was readily convinced that burly men could jump out from behind every last corner within the Complexity building, ready to handcuff him and send him to prison in the name of president Fuzen. This never took place, however, and Hideki was similarly unaffected, and so Kazuto began to gingerly place some faith in Fuzen's promise to keep them around, if simply to watch them "suffer."

This was also part of his motivation to return to work. In an act of defiance, he would not show that his confrontation with the man had affected him deeply. He performed his duties with as much precision as before, and then some, in an effort to flaunt his supposed fortitude. There were a few instances where Kazuto saw Fuzen watching him from behind a window or another cubicle, and the young man would return the president's dagger like gaze blankly, as if to say, _Is there anything you need, sir?_

Still, they had to be careful. Overly inciting Fuzen's wrath may result in their discovery. In order to carry out the growth of Yui's biocapsule without interruption, Hideki had had the proper equipment moved discreetly to one of the company's warehouses by the sea. According to him, nobody ever paid attention to what went on there, since it was mostly meant for storage of materials for projects years later. As long as Fuzen wasn't specifically looking for something, their operations would remain hidden.

"_It will take around two hundred days to fully develop the clone,_" Hideki had told him over the phone one late night. All three of them had also changed their phone numbers, giving the excuse of needing newer tech to their relatives, for fear of their calls being bugged as well. Kazuto had been slightly skeptical about going so far, but Hideki had been insistent. If Fuzen thought it necessary, he would do it without hesitation, he said.

"Two hundred days..." Kazuto murmured, keeping his voice low as Asuna was sleeping on his lap. "Just over six months, at around the start of our second year of college. What do we do once it's done?"

"_My colleagues and I will secretly extract Yui's data from the SAO servers stored within one of the chambers of the upper floors. You don't have the clearance for that, so you'll have to leave it to me."_

Kazuto smiled regretfully. "I'm leaving pretty much everything to you, you know. I'll owe you big for this one."

"_Heh, no kidding. Once this is over, first round of drinks are on you."_

"I don't drink."

"_Not yet."_

"Heh."

"_Enjoy the monotony while you can. In six month's time everything is going to change, whether for better or for worse."_

* * *

Kazuto was quietly enjoying his lunch on the college grounds one afternoon when an unexpected social gathering took place.

He had been plunged in deep thought beforehand, as he slowly munched on the small meal Asuna had prepared for him earlier that morning. He always insisted that he could make his own food, feeling both guilt and embarrassment at having her do it instead, but she never relented.

He was currently thinking about the next two hundred days. While he understood that there was nothing he could do while they all waited for the biocapsule to grow, it wasn't so instinctively simple. At least he would be able to visit the warehouse once in a while, to check her progress; though he wasn't so sure about seeing his daughter suspended in a test tube with life support.

"Hey, Kazu-kun."

Kazuto glanced up and saw Asuna smiling down at his position on the bench. Taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of her expression, he returned the gesture and swallowed before saying, "Hey."

She plopped down on the seat beside him and scooted close, opening her own lunch as she did so. Reaching with a pair of fresh chopsticks, she plucked a small piece of meat up and held it before him. "Here."

Kazuto frowned. "You already made my lunch; you don't have to feed me too."

Asuna huffed and narrowed her eyes at him, obviously offended. "You don't have a choice, okay? Eat."

He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation and slightly unhinged his mouth so Asuna could push the little morsel inside. After chewing and swallowing appropriately, he sighed and said teasingly, "You're so domineering, Asuna."

She blushed at his word choice and replied, "I'm just proactive."

Kazuto coughed in the opposite direction and added, "You always pin me down during the night, too..."

Asuna's flushed reached the tips of her ears and she stuttered, "Lies!" Before slapping her lunch box closed and turning away with a disgruntled humph.

"Don't have too much fun without me!" A voice called out.

They both looked up to see Takanashi jogging slowly towards their bench. Pulling out his own meal, he huffed, "I refuse to be left out of such social gatherings," Before taking a seat beside Asuna and digging into his lunch.

"Say, Asuna," The shoe-expert mentioned as he ate, "I like your new hairstyle."

She blushed again, albeit more slightly, and said softly, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Takanashi said earnestly before stopping short and adding, "Kazuto's glaring at me now, so I'll stop."

"Lay off him, Kazuto," Asuna scolded as she elbowed her lover in the ribs, causing him to cringe slightly. Apparently, she was still miffed about his comment about her being domineering. "At least he noticed that I changed my hair."

"I was waiting for the right opportunity to capitalize on it," He shot back strategically, or at least that was what he thought, because this didn't lift Asuna's mood one bit.

"My, you youngsters seem to be having some fun."

"You're only ten months older than me, Hitomi," Asuna sighed as the "older" woman sat down on the bench next to Kazuto, effectively filling it up completely.

"I have fifty year's experience," Hitomi retorted as she dug around for her own food. "You, on the other hand, are twelve with six year's experience. So why is Kazuto hear all irked?"

"I'm not irked," The man snorted. "Asuna is being unreasonable."

Hitomi looked at Kazuto's lover with raised eyebrows, asking for an explanation.

Asuna blinked when she realized that her grievances sounded more far-fetched when she had to explain them to someone. "He failed to compliment me on my new hair style."

Hitomi glanced at her head and said blandly, "Oh, I didn't notice," Which made Asuna's forehead twitch irritably at the obvious jab.

Kazuto closed his eyes and crossed his arms in an arrogant manner and said, "Besides, my compliments come in physical actions. Words are flimsy."

Hitomi snickered. "So you compliment her in the bed instead?"

The couple simultaneously blushed.

* * *

**Now that the chapter's over, I must offer my gratitude to you guys. Our Love Incarnate now has over 100 Reviews and Followers! :D Thanks so much for making this my standout work so far. I've had great fun writing it and we aren't done yet! Thanks to all of my readers, as well as Nornichica for being #100, and Ai Mamorou, King Ognik, TRIX19, starburst98, and StephanieHeartfilia for the frequent feedback, as well as everyone else who took the time to leave their thoughts here. It might not be obvious, but you've all helped me develop this story accordingly.**

**~Shrrg**


	20. Change

Chapter 20: Change

"Oh, I see," Takanashi said blandly as he jotted something down on his paper. "And what'd you get for number seven?"

A small family of birds took a sudden startling flight, as if in irritation at his words. Takanashi and Kazuto were sitting together at a relatively large cafe table, helping "each other" with their philosophy homework, although the latter wouldn't really classify it was a mutualistic symbiosis. Calling it commensalism would be sugar coating; but had he really expected the shoe-expert to have the motivation to finish all of his homework properly on his own? Despite Kazuto's newfound respect for the man, there were times when he had to wonder how Takanashi had ever become accepted to Tokyo University. The blonde harbored his own unique brand of intellect, but he was never motivated to study and was incredibly lazy about everything except the selling of shoes.

"Plato. And before you ask, I haven't answered number eight yet," Kazuto replied tiredly as he tried his best to become reabsorbed within his own work.

Asuna sighed and shook her head, apparently sharing his concern. She was sitting with them at the table next to Hitomi, who was busy completing her own "impossibly high-level assignment."

"Takanashi, why don't you just pay attention in class?" She asked almost exasperatedly.

The blonde chuckled sheepishly. "It's kind of hard for me."

"No, kidding," Kazuto muttered as he answered the eighth question.

Takanashi perked up when he noticed this and tried to discreetly lean over and peek, but Kazuto pulled another paper between them to prohibit the snooping. The shoe expert pouted at this development but didn't push Kazuto any further.

"You guys are hopeless," Hitomi remarked as she watched the exchange over the edge of her own papers. "How are you going to survive your second and third years if you can't even get through the first yourself?"

Takanashi _tched_ and leaned back in his chair casually. "And what did you get in your philosophy class?"

Hitomi stared at him almost passively before saying, "One hundred eight percent."

"How much of that is imaginary?" Kazuto deadpanned as he answered his ninth question.

The nurse snorted and returned to her own work. "None of it, honey. I'm a smart cookie. Right, Asuna?"

"Mmh," The younger girl murmured around the pencil clenched between her straight teeth, too engrossed within her own math homework, apparently, as she leaned intently over the paper. Kazuto, however, knew better, crossing his arms and asking, "So have you improved your math skills any?"

Sighing, she led her forehead fall and plunk against the surface of the table. "No."

"But I helped you out that one time, didn't I?"

"It didn't turn out to be very productive," Asuna said as she twisted her head to grin up at him, forcing Kazuto to blush when he remembered their brief escapade before his mother had come to visit the house.

"I hope you two don't keep the neighbors awake at night," Hitomi murmured softly without looking up.

The young couple blushed at the nurse's words for what felt like the millionth time. Takanashi snickered and high-fived the older woman.

Maintaining his silence nonetheless, Kazuto leaned back in his chair and stared up at the baby blue sky for a brief moment. He wondered if he and Asuna had ever done something around Hitomi to make her assume that they were such a...physically intimate pairing. While he wouldn't deny or confirm anything, he couldn't recall anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, Asuna groaned and pounded her fist into her math homework.

"Still stuck?" Hitomi asked, glancing over at her friend, who nodded in defeat.

"Why are you so bad at math?" Takanashi asked, leaning over to see if the girl's work was as difficult as she made it out to be.

"It never came very easily to her," Kazuto answered them as he leaned over the table and tapped his partner on the head, asking, "Hello?"

"Mmh."

"You're never going to finish at this rate."

"Mphmh."

"I can't understanding anything you're saying."

Sighing, Asuna picked herself off the table and stood, saying "I'm going to the bathroom," before trudging in a depressed manner towards the toilets.

Kazuto caught the other two's questioning stares and said, "...It drives her crazy."

Takanashi snickered again. "Crazy girls are always fun."

"I'm sure you'll find the perfect yandere one day, Takanashi."

"Not that kind of crazy."

"Crazy in the bed?" Hitomi asked.

"Why does everything you say refer to sex?" Kazuto asked irritably.

"It comes with age."

A semi-satisfied silence engulfed the table then, all three of the them quietly toiling at their own assignments while Asuna did her business in the bathrooms. Kazuto was just beginning to settle into a comfortable groove of answer, read, think, when Takanashi took a brief glance at his phone and blinked, saying, "Hey guys, Valentine's Day is next week."

"Do you have someone to spend it with?" Hitomi asked honestly, though Kazuto could still bet she withheld an ulterior motive.

The blonde laughed and said, "No, I don't have time for those kinds of things. You?"

"No, and for the same reason," The nurse said, setting her pen down for the time being.

It took Kazuto a few seconds for him to realize that they were both staring at him intently. Blinking once he realized the reason, he opened his mouth and started, "Guys, I-"

"She doesn't like flowers," Hitomi interrupted him.

"...She doesn't?"

The nurse shrugged. "Thinks they're cheesy."

"Write her poem," Takanashi suggested dramatically.

"I can't write poetry."

"Make her something nice," Hitomi broke in, glaring at the shoe-expert for his idea. "She doesn't put much value in monetary things."

Kazuto frowned. "I know that, but my skillset doesn't go very far past computers..."

"My, you are useless, aren't you?"

"Oh, well I'm sorry," He snorted.

Hitomi nodded. "Apology accepted."

"I was being sarcastic."

Takanashi cleared his throat and said, "By the way, what'd you get for number eight?"

* * *

The metal encasing the computer's shell was cool to the touch and smelled strangely of sea salt, though Kazuto could attribute this to the morning air seeping slowly through an open window of the warehouse. Hideki hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said their basis of operations would be right by the ocean; the warehouse itself sat nestled on a road running parallel to a sandy shore. If one stood outside, they could see the brief outline of Chiba in the distance.

Nobody was present at the moment aside from himself, Hideki and Asuna, as the older man had suggested their visit the warehouse in order to get a general feel for the area, as well as provide an opportunity for him to explain the rest of the specifics of their plan. While Kazuto could be grateful for the lack of other people in the warehouse, he still held a desire to meet the people Hideki had chosen to rely on. He trusted the older man's sense of judgement, but there was always that deep-rooted fear of betrayal, as well as an apprehension towards placing weight in others.

"These units are for calculating Yui's creation," Hideki explained as he gestured at the row of computers sitting side by side along the wall. "All the fine tuning and precise decision making will be done using these."

"But how are we going to...grow her?" Kazuto asked uncertainly. "Will it be through the conventional route, beginning with a single cell, then multiplying it? Because that could take an awfully long time."

Hideki took a seat and gestured for the other two to do the same. Kazuto complied, but Asuna preferred standing. "Your guess is somewhat correct. We will begin with a fertilized zygote, yes, but the technology my project has produced allows for us to accelerate the process. However, there was also the concern of making the biocapsules look as close to the actual person as possible. That's where cellular manipulation came in. I could spent a week sitting here and explaining every last detail about that sort of science, but the general idea is that was can decide how the capsule's features will develop. And since you've given me the visual reference I needed, I can make her look exactly the same."

Asuna shook her head in disbelief. "I didn't even know we had tech of that caliber. It's been a while since the turn of the century, sure, but...I thought accelerated cloning and mind grafting was something you'd only find in science fiction."

Hideki smiled at his sister. "The present is going to eventually catch up with science fiction, and this might be the first step. But getting back on topic, it is very important that we keep Yui in a very secure setting while we work on her. She'll be suspended inside a growth chamber for the duration of the growth process; it's basically a reinforced glass tube filled with a fluid to maintain her homeostasis, once she gains the ability the have such a thing, that is."

Kazuto frowned as his mind churned, trying to get all of his concerns and questions in a straight line. "If...when this succeeds, will she...assume life as an ordinary human? Is there anything that would set her apart from everybody else?"

The older man turned and played his fingers across the smooth surface of the computer table, thinking his next words over carefully. "There are things we know, and things we don't. I can tell you what we do. Since her cells will be grown using acceleration techniques, they will be...ah, 'spoiled' once the process in complete, so she may hit her growth spurts rather early. And since the eyes will have never been exposed to sunlight, they will need time to adjust. She will be able to see as well as anybody eventually, but assimilation is necessary. But broadly speaking, she will be fine. She'll grow, mature, hit puberty, reach adulthood, and inevitably die, as we all do."

Hideki saw the looks of relief passing over the couple's faces and smiled, but let this drop once he realized he had better move on to the second part of his explanation. Clearing his throat again, he drew their attention and made sure he had eye contact before recommencing.

"However," He started, "There is a complication, which I say with regret."

Asuna narrowed her eyes. "And what is that?"

"I ran a check with a colleague on the size of Yui's data. Due to her presence within the game's server, she is able to retain massive amounts of data, and her ability as a computer also helps. Unfortunately, the human brain, as remarkable as it is, cannot house all of this information safely."

Kazuto crossed his arms. "But the brain can store literally a million gigabytes of memory. How is there not enough room?"

"Yui isn't just Yui, to put it bluntly," Hideki explained. "Her consciousness is also interconnected with a vast majority of the NPCs and monsters still within Aincrad, due to her connection to the Cardinal System. Bringing all the data contained within the floating castle would require several brains, maybe more. This means we will have to stave off unnecessary 'memories'. This would include unneeded information on the stats and abilities of the enemy ecosystem within the game, as well as any storage data from the Cardinal System that she is linked to. Any data required to summon weapons or know the terrain of all one hundred floors would also be thrown out. Of course, this is assuming you can confirm that these things are unnecessary. We would like to keep as much of Yui's memories as possible, but one human brain could only contain about twenty percent of 'all of her'"

There was a brief silence as the young couple absorbed the sheer massiveness of the science they were dabbling with. Despite the research and breakthroughs that had been made, it was still a relatively untested science, with only similar experiments of the past to draw experiences from. Yui could become a pioneer of sorts, which was the last thing either of them wanted, because the notion of diving into something unprepared had been thoroughly burned from their minds after surviving SAO.

Finally, Kazuto sighed heavily and asked, "But I thought people could only fully utilize a small portion of the brains. How will she use all of hers?"

"It's less an impossibility and more of an inability," Hideki replied. "The main reason for that is, nobody really experiences enough in their lives to fill the entire mind, but everyone is quite capable of using all of their storage space. To go back on what I said earlier, I suppose that will be the only thing separating your daughter from other humans," He smiled slightly. "She'll have a full brain. Of course, she will forget things and make new memories; she will remember what she needs to, and lose what she doesn't."

After taking a moment to allow this all the sink in, the older man said, "Come here, I'll show you something," Before turning in his chair and tapping the computer in front of him to life, punching in a quick password before sorting through the machine's contents. Kazuto and Asuna stood behind his chair, leaning in to see what was going on. Hideki opened a few documents before pulling up what appeared to be a diagram; an animated image of a human skeleton flashed to life on one side of the screen, rotating slowly to display every last point and detail, and many functions listed beside it told Kazuto that you could also zoom in on certain areas to view bone density, marrow production, and capability of platelets.

To the other side of the screen was the spoiler; it displayed Yui's parameters, utilizing every last bit of information the young couple had been able to provide about her, right down to her affinity for Asuna's sandwiches.

"This is what we are doing to prepare for the growth process," Hideki said as he clicked around a bit. "This needs to be as precise as possible, since growing a biocapsule takes time and we lack the resources to grow more than one at once. We'll be designing and structuring her from the bottom up; from one cell to a fetus, then acceleration until her final form. I expect your help as well, Kazuto, and Asuna, if she finds herself capable."

The girl shook her head. "I don't know anything about these kinds of things."

"You will contribute in your own ways, then. Remember that we are literally creating a person starting from the basic building blocks of life. We can't afford any mistakes, or it could cripple Yui for life."

"Speaking of mistakes," Kazuto said suddenly, "Wouldn't it be feasible to make copies of Yui's data once we have it? Then we could have more than one attempt."

Hideki shook his head. "Once the data tries to assimilate with the mind, it's do or don't. Failure will result in the destruction of the capsule's brain as well, meaning we'd have to grown another one, and I seriously doubt our ability to remain hidden from Fuzen's eye for that long. Besides, growing multiple clones of your daughter and tossing the failures away seems a bit...inhumane, doesn't it?"

Kazuto felt shame wash over him. He was right. It would be wrong to do such a thing.

"Meaning we have only one shot at this," Asuna concluded.

Hideki nodded in agreement. "We'll begin building Yui in a month. I'll call you over once it begins. By my prediction, this whole thing should be over by September of this year."

"It's February..." Kazuto murmured.

Asuna pursed her lips in deep thought.

Hideki nodded in general consensus, then paused as if something had just occurred to him. Gesturing somewhere towards the opposite side of the warehouse, he asked his sister, "By the way, could you go over to that table, way over there, and bring back the big thick book?"

"Sure," Asuna said, walking towards the designated location. "What does it look like?"

"You can't miss it," Hideki called back. "It's the only book there."

"Okay."

About a minute passed in silence then, as Kazuto absentmindedly watched his partner search for the book her brother had mentioned. She seemed to be having some trouble finding it; he had to smirk at her unintentional clumsiness, sometimes.

"There is no book," The older man beside him suddenly divulged.

"What?"

"I wanted some time to speak with you privately," Hideki said with a sly smile that didn't quite match his expression. "Though I will admit it's for a more frivolous reason than you might think. My question is: what do you plan to do on the fourteenth of this month?"

Kazuto stared at the tiled floor and rubbed his shoe across the smooth surface. "To be honest, I don't really know. I've always been horrible at gifts, and women can be awfully confusing sometimes."

The older man nodded and clapped his charge on the shoulder. "Well phrased. I won't claim to know what you should do, but I was just curious to find out. You should probably tell Asuna that there is no book, now; she's stubborn enough to search till tomorrow if you don't."

* * *

The days seemed to slip by like frantic fish, then. Kazuto would take several moments out of the following days to think about what he would do for the upcoming Valentine's Day, but he never came up with anything concretely reasonable. Did he really know Asuna as well as he thought he did. Though of course, his inability to decide on such a thing didn't suggest a weakness in their relationship. She hadn't mentioned the upcoming holiday herself either, but he knew better to take this as reason to assume that she had forgotten, having learned long ago that women were very capable of biding their time.

Regardless of how hard Kazuto wracked his brains for an idea, however, in the end it was destined to be a fruitless endeavor. One cause was his lack of experience will such matters and his stubbornness to ask anyone else for help.

Not to mention that Asuna caught the flu.

"I'm-cough-sorry, Kazu-kun," The girl rasped through a dry throat as he tightened to blanket a bit tighter around her, as if this would guarantee something. Shaking his head at the foolishness of his actions, he stood up to relieve the strain on his thighs.

"You don't have to apologize," Kazuto said. "It isn't your fault you got sick."

Asuna let another wave of coughs wrack her body before replying, "But...it's Valentine's Day. You were supposed to sweep me off my feet and give me the confession of a lifetime."

Kazuto smiled and pushed a few sweaty strands of loose hair out of her forehead. "Does it have to be a holiday for me to say that I love you? Seems a bit reserved to me."

He couldn't tell if the girl's flush came from the sickness or embarrassment, but nevertheless she saw fit to turn her head away from him. "S-Stupid. Why do you always make it so hard to be sarcastic?"

"I'm too honest for my own good."

He let her fall asleep after that, taking a seat at the coffee table so that he could watch over his lover from a safe distance. Preparing a cursory cup of tea (he had recently mastered the craft himself), he sat down and quietly sipped as he observed Asuna's slumbering face, trying his best not to worry about the small beads of sweat sliding down her skin. It wasn't an overly serious case of the influenza; just strong enough to knock a person out of sync for a day or two.

_Perfect timing, though. I really had no idea what to do._

Of course he had had his ideas. A good dinner and a night out on the town had almost immediately come to mind, but had been thrown out just a quickly, due to his apprehension to resorting to anything so...standard. Whether it was for better or worse, Kazuto knew that the two of them were not an "ordinary" couple. Everything about them, from their meeting to their eventual bonding and even the moment they had declared their love for each other, had been under extraordinary circumstances. The name eluded him, but someone had once said that people united best during conflict. In any case, he had held the notion that doing something ordinary would not hold much meaning for them. But then there had been the idea that perhaps Asuna would like that, doing something mundane. It certainly wasn't something they had plenty of experience with.

Partially, he was glad he hadn't had to make a decision. He'd made too many already. Enough was enough.

Kazuto's gaze slipped to the side, coincidentally focusing on the small calendar sitting on the kitchen's island. In around two hundred days, their lives could change forever. He couldn't say what would happen if the entire plan failed; best case scenario, they would return to their previous lifestyles and hopefully take another stab at it someday. And if it succeeded...

They would be parents. Not just in concept, but legally. It suddenly occurred to him that they had no way to explain Yui's sudden appearance to the legal side of society. He and Asuna were sure their family and friends would understand, given time, but how to ensure that the state recognized Yui as theirs? Would she be presented as a lost child they had stumbled across? She wouldn't have a birth certificate; the government would not have a file on her human form because, well, she had not existed previously.

Kazuto downed the rest of his cup's contents and set it down gently, as to not wake his partner. Well, it was too late to turn back and smooth out all of the wrinkles now. In any case, nothing else would matter as long as he could hold his child in his arms again. All other bridges could be burned when they had to be crossed.

Exhaling heavily from his nose, Kazuto raised his head and stared around at the walls of the house, his mind surprisingly blank of things to think about. It seemed almost absurd, with everything going on in his life at the moment, but he could still enjoy the moment of monotony. Still, as if by protocol, his gaze eventually fell on Asuna.

_I care for her so much it's almost ridiculous,_ Kazuto thought with a touch of irony as he raised his cup to his lips again, despite the fact that it was empty. Before, he would have cringed at the idea of becoming so dependent on another person; now he couldn't imagine living without her. Some would see it as a weakness, to have invested so much of oneself within another. Even he himself would have, at one time. But this forced Kazuto to think back to what Takashi had told him: one may only fight when there is something to be fought for.

_I'm not fighting for myself anymore. It's for everyone else._

And this was a burden he would gladly bear.

Though he still couldn't wait for the day that none of them would have to fight, and they could all exist together in peace...

Picking up his cup, Kazuto left it in the sink so he could clean it later and strode over to his lover's sleeping form, bending at the waste so he could get a good look at her ever-beautiful features, even while in the grips of sickness.

Unable to keep a smile from his face, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, murmuring, "I love you," Before leaving the room.

Nobody saw the blissful smile carving its way across Asuna's lips.

* * *

**Please review! Your feedback is very important to me.**


	21. Flaws

Chapter 21: Flaws

She hadn't really been planning on carrying a conversation with anyone that day, but humans really were such spontaneous creatures.

Of course, she couldn't really say the NPC sitting dejectedly among the ruins of a small stone cottage was totally human, but he had been designed to imitate humanity and was thus acceptable, if she had been searching for such a thing. It had occurred to her at that moment that her standards must have fallen quite low; if a mirage of a person was enough to please her, how would she be able to handle a genuine individual?

She had been performing her usual circuits of the many floors of Aincrad, deciding to explore randomly as she had already visited every general location, in order to understand profoundly the nature of the world which had bred her. She had stopped under the shelter of a maple tree for just a moment, contemplating on how the heat of the sun could affect her negatively, although she didn't draw any benefits from having the flaming ball in the sky. Even in pitch darkness, she could see just fine; and her body composition did not require light to remain healthy.

The tree had rooted itself upon the crest of a large hill, like a small crown atop a balding head that stood alone among the vast plains of the eighty-fifth floor. She had seen the ruins of the stone cottage out of the corner of her eye but had chosen to not think about it; only when the sounds began did she pay any heed.

Turning, Yui saw the small boy sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest, back to a small portion of the wall that had still managed to keep itself standing, staring sightlessly at the ground. Upon another occasion, she might have simply turned and let him be. But there was something odd about this situation; what was such a small NPC doing out here, alone? Usually, they were programmed to stay in groups, and only under extraordinary circumstances would they be allowed to break from the hive mentality.

Against her instincts, Yui shifted her feet and began to take steps towards the boy. He apparently heard her coming, not that she had taken any especial care to remain unnoticed, because the boy's head lifted to observe the approaching newcomer. There was a slight jolt in the girl's chest when their eyes met; she had expected to be met with the misunderstanding, blank stare of an NPC, but instead the irises staring back at her were bright, intellectual, and..._human._

No words were exchanged immediately, even when Yui had walked all the way so that she could stand not three feet from him, her bare toes sinking softly into the loose dirt under the grass. The NPC stared back at her, not bothering to leave his position in front of the broken wall, though whether it was out of indifference or fear she couldn't really say. Finally, Yui decided that she couldn't let this silence last any longer. It would be a waste of her time to turn around and forget about this now. Squatting on her heels, Yui tilted her head and asked,

"What's your name?"

He looked younger than her, though not by much. Yui knew after a long time that, despite her age correlating with the release of SAO, she appeared to be about ten years old. The NPC sitting before her seemed to be about eight. Dark brown hair wafted quietly over a set of black, deep eyes, and there was nothing really special about anything on his countenance. Standard for any NPC. So perhaps she had been wrong after all; maybe there wasn't anything different about him.

Those eyes, though.

"...Taichi," The boy answered almost meekly, as if answering incorrectly would warrant some sort of punishment. Taking a moment to roll the name around in her head, Yui nodded in acceptance and allowed herself to take a seat against the shattered wall beside the boy. The NPC tensed up a bit at her proximity, but said nothing and did not move.

After a few moments of silence, Yui tore a few blades out of the grass and asked, "What are you doing here, Taichi?"

He didn't answer immediately. Her immediate instinct was that his response parameters were buffering. Then there was the nagging thought that perhaps he felt too guilty to divulge a response.

_Nonsense. He's a computer._

_Well...so am I._

Taichi picked his own blade of grass before deigning to answer. "I...did bad."

"Bad?"

"Mommy. She got mad at me cause I did bad."

"What did you do wrong?" Yui asked almost blandly, her thin, nimble fingers weaving the grasses together as if she were knitting.

Taichi observed this for a little while before remembering that he was supposed to answer her questions. "I burned all of the bread in the oven," He admitted guiltily. "Mommy and I have a bakery, and she says we can't eat and live if we don't have our bread, and then I burned it..." The NPC had to cease his speaking in order to wipe the tears forming at the corners of his eyes, and Yui let him.

"I'm always giving my Mommy trouble," Taichi continued once he had recovered somewhat. "I always do bad and she gets upset at me. It makes me feel ugly sometimes."

"Ugly..." Yui murmured, the pace of her fingers increasing somewhat, until she was weaving and picking up more grass at a rather incredible rate. Allowing silence to reign supreme for a little while more, she made up her mind and said, "So is that why you came here?"

Taichi nodded. "I'm going to stay here forever. Then I won't have to give Mommy trouble or do bad or anything. It's better like that."

"And what if she comes after you?"

The NPC took a moment to think about that. "Well, I don't know, really. My Mommy's always coming for me."

The last sentence was spoken with a hint of pride in it, a pride that made Yui want to scream. It was absurd to her that someone would be happy when someone went through trouble to come get them.

"I'll be a bit lonely, I guess," Taichi admitted. "But it's okay. Because at least I won't give any trouble-"

Yui's grass weaving snapped in half from all of the force being exerted upon it, and the small boy's words were cut off by the abruptness. He had barely gotten all of his thoughts in order when the older girl sitting beside him flung the torn grass blades away and seized him by the shoulders, squeezing with an almost inhuman strength that betrayed a separation between what was genuine and what was not.

"I want you to go back to your Mommy right now," Yui said, knowing that she had begun speaking at too high a speed but not caring. "Just because you think it's for the best doesn't mean that it really will be. Go back and give her more trouble. Give her all the trouble in the world! Because if you choose to trap yourself here like this and be so alone, you'll wish-"

"Yui-san...?" Taichi cut her off, albeit with an almost impossibly soft voice. It occurred to her that he must have read her name from her HUD.

"Why are you crying?"

Yui pulled one death-gripping hand away to probe her cheeks and was surprised to find them stained with tears. Blinking hard and feeling more streaming from her eyes, she gritted her teeth and wiped the stuff away aggressively.

"You'll wish you could change your mind," She continued, ignoring Taichi's observation. "Once you realize that making someone come after you isn't for the best, you can't ever forget it. So don't realize. Go back and believe that your Mommy will always search for you, and that that's okay. Go now. Leave."

She let him go then, and the small NPC sat, squatting, staring at her in speechlessness. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Taichi reached out and trailed the tips of his fingers along Yui's tearstained cheek, making the older girl go frigid at the skin to skin contact.

"Yui-san..." He began, then stopped because he hadn't gotten his words in a straight line just yet.

"Where is your Mommy?"

She couldn't help herself. She laughed, a half-choked sound that felt more like a death cry than an actual expression of amusement. "Far away," She answered.

"Don't you want her to come looking for you?"

"...No."

Taichi sat there for a little while long before nodding in acceptance and getting to his feet.

"Okay," He relented. "I'll go back, then."

And then he was really gone, but he had failed to take her pain with him.

* * *

It came to Kazuto's attention that he really had to start waking up earlier on weekends.

He had been disturbed from his slumber yet again in the wee hours of the day, the period where the sun has just risen and is still struggling to burn off the last remainders of the previous night's chill. He had been dreaming about cicadas, oddly enough, except it wasn't exactly a conventional dream; it had been more like he was dozing lightly for a very long time while simultaneously thinking about a random topic. Albeit, his thought processes were rather skewed and unimportant, but they had nonetheless taken place.

He had remembered rather vaguely that he had learned in biology of a specific type of cicada...a species that grew and bred itself underground patiently for seventeen years before emerging to the surface, only to swarm in large numbers for a very limited amount of time before dying to make way for the new generation of cicadas. Only the new generation would only spend another seventeen years underground. Just what was the point? Why choose to trap oneself somewhere for such a long time, and only feel the sun for a moment? Better to have never committed to such an existence, or perhaps never even see the sun at all...Of course, he could understand the evolutionary advantages of this. It had originally been to avoid coinciding with a particular parasite.

A parasite of guilt.

_Wait...no._

Languidly, Kazuto pondered as he slept on how the maturing cicada must feel, trapped in its own earthen grave for nearly two decades. How it must feel awfully lonely, with nothing to interact with but the tree roots it sucked its sustenance from, probably feeling like the only sentient organism within the nearest thousand miles. They would be forced to tough it out until it was their time to either emerge or die, unless someone decided to take the time to dig them up from the ground, but that might kill them, disrupt the natural cycle of their lives and only cause ruin in the end.

No, it certainly wouldn't do to force the cicada out of its natural habitat, because-

_Ding, dong._

_...ugh._

"Are we going to ignore them again?" Asuna murmured groggily from her position on the other side of the bed. She was facing away from him, but she could tell somehow whether he was awake or not, an ability Kazuto had never really gotten an explanation for. His eyes fell briefly upon her honey-colored hair, fascinated at how it didn't look messy or frizzy in the mornings. Suguha's hair had grown somewhat, but it was still much shorter than his lover's, yet she had always suffered from terrible cases of bedhead.

Humming something incoherent deep in his throat, Kazuto reached over and yanked Asuna close to his chest, making the slim girl yelp in surprise at the relatively rough treatment. After she had recovered enough from this sudden development (and suppressed her irritation at being awoken so rudely), she humphed with emphasis and said nothing, though her heartbeat did quicken when he buried his nose into her neck and inhaled. He never failed to excite her.

Meanwhile, the ringing at the door continued.

"You should probably get that," Asuna suggested.

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I'm too lazy and you love me."

Kazuto didn't bother peeking through the door to see who was on the other side before opening it. He had always found that oddly disturbing, the notion of staring at someone through a one-sided glass. Felt like an invasion of privacy, despite the fact that the visitor was the one doing the potential invading. Thus his nasty habit of pressing his eye to door-glasses, waiting for the house's residents to peek through only to be confronted by his iris.

He spent a few seconds staring at the woman standing on his threshold before wiping the gum out of his eyes and asking, "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Hitomi said bluntly. "Sorry that this is so sudden, but you have fifteen minutes to get dressed and ready. We're going somewhere."

Kazuto found himself strangely unfazed by the nurse's spontaneity. Running his fingers through his tangled hair and noting duly that he required a haircut, he asked, "Where are we going? And Asuna's still asleep."

"She isn't going with us. Hurry, now."

He eyed the slightly older woman a bit more before deciding he couldn't get any more information out of her. Pulling the door open a little wider, he said, "Then come in and wait a bit," before retreating to his room for a change of clothes.

"Who was at the door?" Asuna asked still groggily upon his return, deigning at last to sit up in the bed.

He found no reason to be discreet. "Hitomi."

There was silence behind him as he darted into the bathroom and began brushing his teeth.

"What's the matter?" Kazuto called out behind him throughout a foaming mouthful of paste, trying his best not to swallow any of the stuff in the process.

"Uh...nothing really," Asuna assured him. "I just didn't expect Hitomi to come here so early in the morning, that's all."

"Oh," He accepted. A few minutes passed as he finished cleansing his enamel and washed his face. Dodging his way into the closet, Kazuto quickly threw on his standard black themed clothing. "I'm sorry I have to leave so early in the morning on a weekend. But it looks like she needs something important."

"That's okay," Asuna murmured. "Just don't talk about too much."

Kazuto paused a moment to contemplate the possible meaning behind those words, then decided he didn't have the time. Reaching over to steal a quick kiss, he said "Be back soon," and slipped out of the door.

* * *

The ensuing car ride passed almost entirely without comment. There were a few instances where Kazuto may have had the opportunity to open some avenue of communication, such as whenever Hitomi was forced to cease her reckless driving at an intersection, but the tight expression on her face dissuaded such an action. The nurse's driving took them far past the reaches of the suburban area where he lived, beyond the college grounds and the surrounding plazas and markets and shops, until suddenly they were driving along a road that almost certainly was headed for the beach.

Under alternate circumstances, Kazuto could not have cared less about where they were going specifically; but lately, something very important to him had become stationed by the sea, and having someone head almost directly for said important thing wasn't exactly relaxing. Especially when that someone was not supposed to know about it.

Kazuto allowed himself to relax a bit when Hitomi took a different turn and steered them towards a small, remote parking lot that still overlooked the sea. It occurred to him that they could still see the warehouses where Yui was, far below them and closer to ocean level, the structures like tiny ants from the height they were at.

Even when she had shut off the vehicle, Hitomi didn't begin to speak. Kazuto took the liberty of opening the window a bit to let some of the morning breeze in, and the nurse did nothing against it. Finally, just when he was about to lose himself among the heavy clouds in the sky over the water, she decided to talk.

"How's your daughter been, Kazuto?" She said, the question jolting through his brain like a lance.

Feeling his fingers twitch involuntarily a bit against the armrest, he licked his lips and answered, "Daughter? Oh...uh, she's doing fine, I guess. I hope. I don't know what she's up to."

"Mmm," Hitomi murmured, pulling the keys out of the ignition and studying the jagged teeth along the metal edge. "Have you been doing anything to maybe...see her again?"

Having regained his composure, Kazuto shrugged nonchalantly and said, "The servers have been shut down. There's nothing else I can do about it."

"Kazuto," Hitomi sighed at last, reaching over to grab his right arm tightly and pull their faces a bit closer for emphasis.

At first, he fought the pull. "You aren't coming on to me, are you?"

"No, you dolt. I know about what you're doing with Yui."

"But you - what?"

"Asuna let it slip by accident," The nurse shrugged, letting him go and sitting straight up again. "It was a pretty tiny mistake, but knowing her as well as I do, I knew there something to be known. You have every right to be angry at me; I pretty much had to wrestle the answers out of her, and I'm sure there are some things she hasn't told me about. So don't blame her."

"I don't really want to blame anybody," Kazuto said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to take this latest development in stride; having another person in on their secret shouldn't topple his resolve. "So what will you do, now that you know about this?"

At the inquiry, Hitomi looked away and began nervously playing with her hair. Kazuto noticed the beginning of a touchy subject. "If circumstances were different, I wouldn't have done anything at all. It's yours and Asuna's business regarding what you do with your daughter, and even as a friend I shouldn't infringe on that. But that's only if I have no connections to what you are doing. Yet I do."

He could feel his heart rate increasing, like he was about to discover something he both desperately wanted to know and was afraid to hear. "How are you even remotely involved with our project for Yui?"

"While Asuna was telling me these things, she happened to mention the name of the man who is responsible for driving you to these lengths," Hitomi said almost cautiously, like saying the wrong words would cause Kazuto to implode. "The head of Complexity, a ruthless person, but at the same time, someone I happen to know personally."

Kazuto didn't say anything. He simply waited, trying to maintain eye contact in order to better coax more words out of the nurse, but Hitomi looked away in almost tangible shame.

"Fuzen is my father."

It was so quiet inside the car that they could hear the seagulls cawing below, far below on the roofs of the warehouses.

Kazuto had many times heard people describe what shock felt like, and over his years and experiences he had compiled a myriad of definitions. Shock was the knowledge that death was around every corner. Shock was the profound depth of one's helplessness. Shock was the feeling of a grenade exploding and leaving the body singed with shrapnel. It was the sudden acknowledgement of a loss, or perhaps a rather abrupt gain. Shock was the pure surgical precision of a blow that leaves one gasping in pain on the ground. It was an immobilizing agent, a precursor of demise, and something to avoid at all costs.

Shock was the silence reigning with the car.

Hitomi refused to say anything further now, instead allowing the deafening ringing to continue between them, and Kazuto knew that this was a bad move. Shock couldn't be left to last and slowly settle down; the pace had to be continued, to swamp the sensation away with an overwhelming array of information, but she wasn't doing that, instead choosing to _sit there_ and not say _anything_ as if allowing the thought to sink in wouldn't spread the toxin of pure agitation. This wasn't good, something had to happen, something to kickstart the brain process before-

"He wasn't a good father, I can assure you that," the nurse said, her soft undertone blasting in his ears like a gunshot. "In the days when I was very little, not even a teenager, he wasn't exactly successful. It took him a long time to rise to the presidential position; over ten years, really. It should have taken even longer, but even I can admit that lies and treachery can accelerate any process."

"But you're..." Kazuto tried to say, but his tongue had suddenly inflated. "You're-"

"I have no obligation to him," Hitomi established quickly. "Growing up with him was almost impossible; it was either I returned home to receive beatings or he came after me to administer them. I lived every day, every hour in fear of his wrath. And he instilled it well. I didn't even think of escaping until I was almost an adult."

He could see the that the thoughts in her head were beginning to overtake her. Undoing her seat belt and leaning over, Hitomi seized his shoulders and continued to speak. "But once the thought came to me, it would never leave. It spent my days daydreaming about how I would never have to see him again, the person who was indirectly responsible for killing my mother, sending the family down under both financially and emotionally, and spawning a girl's hatred of her own father. But I was too scared. Absurd, right?" Hitomi asked with a stutter, laughing awkwardly. "I could think it but not do it. I was too much of a coward. Just a shadow, like Fuzen had said. And then he became trapped by the SAO crisis."

A small modicum of comprehension dawned on Kazuto.

"It was the push I needed. I got a job at the hospital where he was being housed while simultaneously working to get into a good college. All things he would have been against. Then, after a while, I left. I guess I wasn't being as brazen as I thought I was; I didn't go very far. He could even have sent men to retrieve me, if he wanted to. But once all the SAO victims were freed, nothing happened. I was gone and it didn't matter to him. It made me so happy that it broke my heart."

"Hitomi, I-"

"Why didn't he come after me?" The girl before him almost shouted, cutting him off. Kazuto was immensely shocked to see a profound weakness of her face for the first time. "If I had gone missing, shouldn't he as a father come after me? Then at least, I would be able to pretend that he didn't hate me...and act like he wasn't such a bad person after all. But he didn't care about my absence and despite my low opinion of him, it...it _hurt._ He took away my faith in family without even blinking an eye. I can't let him do the same thing to you, or else I'll-"

"Hitomi!" Kazuto yelled, grabbing the nurse's wrists harshly in order to calm her down. Caught off guard by the rough treatment, she stemmed her words.

Letting out a pent up breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, Kazuto relaxed his grip, feeling a stab of regret at the slightly red, angry marks on her skin. Retracting his arms, he allowed Hitomi to shrink back to her position in the driver's seat. Finally, after feeling that the atmosphere had loosened sufficiently, he spoke.

"It's just...okay, let's just get out of the car and have some fresh air, alright?" Kazuto suggested softly. "It's kind of hard to think straight in here, right?"

After a moment's contemplation, Hitomi nodded and crawled out of the car.

Exiting the vehicle himself, Kazuto could feel his heartbeat relax just a tad when the morning's sea breeze struck him fully for the first time. It wasn't very early anymore, but the winds were still strong enough to ruffle his hair. And clear the near-hysterical fog from his head, as well as Hitomi's, hopefully. Stretching his arms a bit before leaning against the hood of the car, he watched as the girl walked forward until she was standing just in front of the metal fence built to keep vehicles and people from tumbling to their deaths into the ocean. She was holding her arms close to her chest, as if to protect her vital organs, the gesture such a startling dichotomy from her usual charisma that Kazuto could barely wrap his head around it. Hitomi had never deviated from the proud, witty woman who held way too much faith in her own philosophies, until now.

Fear really could change people.

It finally struck Kazuto that Hitomi was struggling with how to resume her words; searching for a way to come out feeling more confident than she really was. He could empathize with her; there were moments when words were nothing and only actions would act as communication. Unfortunately, the setting allowed for none of this.

At last, she took a deep breath and tucked her long brown hair behind one ear, her small ponytail flapping frantically in the wind. Turning to face him, she looked a bit more composed. "I didn't call you out here because I want to tell you what to do, or try and make your decisions myself," She began. "I grew up never having a choice, and I'd never force the same pain onto someone else. Being able to choose another option, even if that choice is much worse, is a mark of freedom in its own way. So having said that, all I can do is beg and plead."

Leaving these words hanging in the air, Hitomi moved and closed the distance between them, finally twisting Kazuto's shirt between her fists when she could reach and pressing her nose into his chest.

"Please," She whispered, "Don't challenge Fuzen any further. He may seem idle now, but when he moves, he will take your faith in family away like he did to me. He made me feel like a bastard child; don't become the bastard parents."

"But our situations aren't the same," Kazuto said back, feeling agitated at the tense air. "While it is unfortunate, your father feels animosity towards you. Me and Asuna will always love Yui, and we know she feels the same."

Pulling herself away from him, Hitomi smiled tearfully and said, "I felt safest when my father was locked away in the virtual world. My problems were put to rest, at least for the time being. People say virtual reality is a form of escape, but I think it's a prison. A prison for the people who hurt you the most."

Kazuto felt something catch in his throat. "Yui isn't hurting us."

"Isn't she?" Hitomi asked so softly he knew it was rhetorical. "Ever since Asuna woke up, you've been trying to reach her, and it's cost both of you dearly. I've watched it happen. When the servers were shut down, I thought you would be able to move on, but now you're trying to bring her into a foreign world..."

Feeling an ugly tightness rising in his chest, Kazuto gently but firmly forced some distance between them, allowing the wind to fill the space instead with its cold fingers.

"You don't understand how Asuna and I feel about Yui," He said gruffly. "You couldn't even begin to imagine. If you did, you wouldn't be against this."

Hitomi smiled again, with the same sad tinge. "You're right. I only know what I know. And what I know is that, as long as Yui exists to you, you'll never really free yourself from what happened in Aincrad."

"What do you mean?"

"It might have been before we met, but Asuna told me about Takashi. And about how you let him go. After learning much more about your history, I'm impressed that you managed to release a catalyst for all the pain you experienced in the virtual world. But now you're getting pulled back in again, and it's hurting you both. You live in this reality but you think in the other one. There are friends that you have here, in the real world, who are waiting to be with you. But you're neglecting them as well as your family to chase what is the cause of your pain to begin with."

Abruptly, Kazuto remembered a time very long ago when he'd sat with Agil in his bar, discussing his frustrating inability to trust reality and its contents. The bartender had told him that virtuality had taken root inside him, perhaps permanently. And that too much of anything was bad for someone. That the virtual reality was just that, virtual, and therefore unreliable. But friends would always be there to love and support one another.

So what was Yui to him? A daughter? A pseudo-human?

Or a part of the virtual world that he apparently poisoned him?

It shocked him to realize that tears were spilling down his cheeks. At first he thought they were meaningless, perhaps a product of all the stress he'd been under lately, but further thought negated this hypothesis. His real problem was fear. The same gripping fear that haunted Hitomi. The fear that everything he had believed in until this point might have been a fraud, a fallacy fabricated by wishful thinking and warped ideals. Was that his true motivation behind bringing Yui to the real world? To prove that his tenet for always being in the right was justified? If his fear was genuine and realistic, then it would mean that he had been lying to himself and everyone around him. A crushing guilt.

Enough to spawn doubt.

"Stop it," Kazuto choked out finally, taking a few steps away from the nurse. "Stop making me doubt what we're doing. You're going to ruin _everything._"

Hitomi stared at the rocky ground. "Better to have doubted and rethought, than acted and regret."

Far below, two gulls began laughing at each other on the roof the the warehouse.

* * *

**Doubt can destroy trust in anything, even the greatest of ideals.**

**Hope you guys didn't mind the very serious tone too much, and if you actually enjoyed it, I'm glad.**

**If you have any thoughts you'd like to leave behind, please put them in the reviews!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Shrrg**

**P.S: Also, I must apologize for being unable to post last week. One of my friends did something really stupid and I had to help him out. Other uploaders might not be so worried about posting as regularly as possible, but that's just the way I'm wired.**


	22. The Spaces Between

Chapter 22: The Spaces Between

True to his promise, Kazuto returned home as quickly as he could, not that doing so gleaned him any benefits. Upon crossing the threshold, he found Asuna busy doing the things she felt she needed to do, her pace of work and demeanor clearly reflecting her desire to avoid any sort of conversation. So it appeared that she had been aware of what Hitomi would interrogate him on. But why the fearful air? There was an almost dreadful smell in the atmosphere, like their home was a mouse hole and a voracious lynx was pawing at the front door.

Regardless of anything he managed to pick up on his partner, he knew it was best from long years of experience to let Asuna sort her own problems into order before confronting her about them. She wasn't the kind of character to engage with when she hadn't yet prepared accordingly, as this often resulted in a jumbled and disoriented conflict. Despite her confident and knowing aura, Kazuto knew there were many things she was unsure about, perhaps even elements of herself. It was always best to scout out the situation before acting, and never make any assumptions. SAO had taught them that.

Due to this decided course of action, however, Kazuto was forced to wait until nighttime to talk to his lover; he was summoned for an emergency shift at work on a spot notice, and was forced to leave as quickly as possible. There were obviously still some apprehension attached to going into the Complexity building for his shifts. After all, he was working in the same premises as his greatest current enemy. He had managed to avoid any sort of contact with Fuzen since that fateful moment where he had revealed everything, which was fortunate enough, not that it had taken any special effort. The president didn't seem to be actively seeking him out; simply the push of a button would be enough to force Kazuto to stand before him, yet such an action had yet to be taken.

_Please...Don't challenge Fuzen any further._

As much as he didn't wish to, Kazuto had to place some importance in those words, and the meaning behind them. He understood very well that Hitomi's father was a dangerous man, but he had accepted this risk when he'd chosen to attempt to bring Yui to reality. Of course, he would have taken the chance regardless of how formidable his foes may have been, but that was currently out of the question. Kazuto couldn't claim to know Hitomi's deepest thoughts, fears, and experiences, but he knew the woman well enough to conclude that she wasn't one to blindly decide who had the advantage in a face off. If anything, she was a very calculating individual, always making offensive or teasing remarks but somehow never crossing the final line. She was a person who was always aware of the situation, as well as how much weight to place in certain elements. A rational human.

That said, there was something unsettling about the absolute conviction with which Hitomi had stated that he should not incite Fuzen's wrath any further. If such a self-confident and aware person as her held so much faith in her father's ability to destroy their operations, and so little in his ability to thwart him, what did that mean for the wisdom of his actions? Not the mention the desires and ideals that had driven himself, Asuna, and Hideki to such lengths. Accepting Hitomi's claims to even the slightest degree put everything they had done so far into question. The sixty-five percent of Yui's body that they had laid out? Questionable. Their strategy to steal her data from Complexity? Subject to scrutiny.

In the end, the easiest thing to do would be to forget everything Hitomi had said and simply forge onwards with his initial intentions. But that could be potentially detrimental, and even fatal, Kazuto knew. He couldn't ignore new developments simply for the sake of his own self-assurance.

But there were still other factors to consider. There were other motivations besides his love for Yui. For instance, his rage at Fuzen's insolent threatening of his family's well being, as well as his treatment of Asuna and Hideki. Were his anger and love enough to overrule the universality of pure logic? Yes, he knew their actions were extremely dangerous, with a high chance of failure. Yes, he didn't know what Yui even thought about this entire ordeal; he was going on assumptions at this point, albeit strong and justified assumptions. What if, somehow, she didn't want to be saved? Yui had changed so much during the nine months they had been banned from VR...would another substantial character shift be enough to spawn such a desire? If so, if his daughter genuinely rejected his efforts to "save" her, then he might give up now, just for her. But he hated Fuzen for what he had done. And he loved Yui for what she was.

It was one of those internal arguments where both sides had equally valid points.

All of these thoughts were swirling around in Kazuto's head as he worked in his usual spot within the Complexity building, clashing in his brain like lightning bolts. It was giving him quite the headache.

_Nothing I can do about it now,_ he thought as he sat up straight in his chair, wincing when the carbon bubbles between his vertebrae popped at the movement. Hanging his arms by his sides, Kazuto looked to his left and stared out at the darkening night outside. It occurred to him that Asuna was still alone at home, and he wondered if she was alright by now, and if she would be more open to communication when he returned.

Feeling the drag of the day catching up to him, he decided he needed a cup of coffee. Perhaps too late to vie for such a thing, but instinct drove him. Rising from his seat, Kazuto turned and made his way to where the coffee was brewing. It would have been a fairly average trip to the coffee brewer too, not that he kept tabs on that, had he not noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Fuzen. Stepping out of the floor's elevator.

Heading straight for him.

Feeling his heartbeat increase its pacing, Kazuto quickened his steps and rushed into the break room, closing the door securely behind him. This, however, offered no safety for him; almost every office and room in the building was composed of transparent glass walls, meaning anyone could see anything going on at any given time.

This, unfortunately, included Fuzen.

The president opened the door moments later in an impossibly calm manner, considering the massive multitude of eyes staring into the room at this very moment. Obviously, Fuzen's presence in this area of the building was not only an extremely rare sight, but also some sort of warped privilege, evidenced by the random workers and secretaries ogling the two of them through the glass.

Kazuto did his best to ignore it all. As far as he was concerned, the world only included himself, Fuzen, and the room they stood in. All exterior elements were either irrelevant or too much of a distraction to consider. This was a delicate situation, here. His wrist shook somewhat as he erratically attempted to pour himself a decent cup of coffee, cursing inwardly when a small portion tipped and spilled onto the counter beside the cup. Proof of his nervousness. This wouldn't do. Using two fingers, Kazuto wiped away the minor spill and rubbed the wet stuff away between his skin, still refusing to turn around and acknowledge Fuzen's existence. Instead he stood, sipping absently at his drink, staring down at the weak steam rising from its liquid surface.

It wasn't working. He couldn't ignore it; not the man literally breathing down his neck at this point, or the bone-chilling air in the room, or the prying, hideously curious eyes gazing at them like they were test subjects. That was what he couldn't stand the most; just _why_ did they have to simply stand there and _watch_? With all this attention, he felt trapped, pinned down by the collective interest of these individuals who understood nothing about the situation yet did not fail to add to the pressure, the grinding, crushing pressure that had begun the moment Fuzen stepped out of the elevator. It made him want to scream, seize his cup and fling it at the glass walls like a wild animal, shout and demand his privacy. Yet he forced himself to keep calm, somewhat satisfied that he managed to contain himself to a small twitch of his fingers.

"It's been a while since I bothered to visit the lower floors," Fuzen murmured in his usual deep voice, tapping two fingers onto the wooden desk in the center of the room.

The words blasted in Kazuto's ears like a thunderclap, making his irises shrink in terror. Inwardly, his mind was mightily confused. Why was he so afraid? Or was it even fear? Perhaps anger; a fury so all consuming it took away his self control. But since when had he felt such stress from having to encounter Fuzen? The idea of it had never worried him so much in the past, but now that the situation was genuine and real it felt like the ceiling was slowly descending upon him, intent on crushing his bones to dust.

Upon further thought, Kazuto realized he both knew and didn't. His vendetta against Fuzen, the scheme to revive Yui, keeping it all a secret...they had all been on his mind relentlessly, never moving or giving room for additional thoughts. Suddenly, his mind began lashing out, trying to find examples to support his claim. When was the last time he had taken Asuna out somewhere? All his days were engulfed in building his daughter's body. What was the status of his grades in college? He didn't even know what he'd gotten on his last test. All the details. All the important points were being sucked into the massive vortex that was Fuzen and Yui.

It had overspilled the limits of his mind, and now it was beginning to eat away at his resolve.

Gripping the cup so hard he feared breaking it, Kazuto yanked his dry lips apart and muttered, "I see."

"Your days must be quite dull around here," Fuzen continued, as if the atmosphere even remotely recommended colloquial conversation. "No money to make. No friends to see.

"No daughter to look after."

Kazuto felt the muscles in his jaw shriek in protest when he clenched his teeth hard enough to chew metal, feeling the fire in his stomach beg for him to turn and lash out at the man, drive his physical self into a state of despair. But he couldn't do that. Once again, logic had to trump primal instinct.

Closing his eyes and letting his rapidly twisting irises to settle down, he took another shaky sip of coffee and answered, "Well...it isn't the worst thing ever. At least I don't cause trouble for anybody."

Fuzen smiled almost amiably at him. He saw the president's expression from his reflection on the wall.

"Yui must be unimaginably bored as well," He murmured much too calmly.

He felt a fist clench around his chest and knew the adrenaline had begun to pump through his veins, already preparing him to scream and throw his fist into Fuzen's nose, reach his fingers in and tear out that tongue that he dared to insult his loved ones so, shatter the fingers that had ordered more offenses to be carried out.

"I didn't expect you to be so accepting of the situation," Fuzen hissed in surprising proximity, and Kazuto knew he was standing right behind him. "Not that you could do anything to save your bastard child, but it would have been most entertaining to watch. Seeing people struggle towards an unattainable ideal is certainly fascinatingly depressing...you, however, have so far failed to supply that amusement. What is the matter, Kirigaya-san? Is my grip on your balls simply too tight?" The execute asked almost concernedly. Despite the fact that a vulgar word had passed the older man's lips, it still felt sinister.

Kazuto couldn't believe the amount of effort he had to exert to keep himself from jumping on the man and tearing his eyes out so he could shove them down his throat and throttle him till he perished. Almost all of his mind was engulfed in that ancient, blood-driven urge to _maim,_ damage, _kill-_

"Cat got you tongue?" Fuzen whispered, chuckling slightly. "Good. It the duty of the weak to shut up and do as their superiors say. And right now, I want you to _struggle_. Do something to try and oppose me, Kirigaya-san. I honestly and wholeheartedly dare you. After all, I hold all the chips. And regardless of how much you may think that Yui belongs to you...just remember, as of this moment, she is nothing but a mongrel I've found convenient to keep around. Do not forget that."

The force being exerted by Kazuto's fingers exceeded the limits of the cup's durability, and the china shattered underneath his wrath, sending little shards of the stuff all across the counter. He saw the spectators outside the room start in surprise. Laughing at this development, Fuzen simply turned at left, carving a path through the sea of workers gathered outside, paying them no heed.

Kazuto spent a full minute staring at the crimson blood running down his knuckles before clenching his fist and deciding to run. He flew out the door and past the men and women shouting questions at him, through the workplace and down the stairs, unable to take the elevator and bring himself that much closer to Fuzen. Everything was all a blur around him, his mental faculties too busy wrestling down the reeling state of his consciousness to pay attention to the outside world.

He had spent many years facing adverse elements of the real and virtual worlds, but in the process the realm within himself had been overtaxed.

He didn't pay attention to where he was until he felt the cold air outside kiss his skin, and Kazuto realized he was standing outside the front entrance of the Complexity building. A few passerby were giving him odd looks, and it occurred to him that he must have burst out of the door in a very frenzied manner, and he probably looked quite disheveled.

Kazuto waited for them to pass before pressing his back to the wall and falling into a deep squat, clutching at the roots of his hair. It was cold, and he had left his jacket inside the building, but he was beyond caring. Why now? Why did he have to begin losing his resolve at such a time? He had come this far knowing that their side was the right side; that Yui wanted very much to be rescued, and that they would succeed in providing that. They would deal a severe blow to Fuzen, their enemy, and reclaim their beloved. That was how it was supposed to _be._

Then Hitomi had come, having uncovered their secret, demanding he cease his activities. It was too dangerous to challenge Fuzen. He would lose everything he had, little he did, and hurt everyone else in the process. Well actually, he had already hurt them, according to her. A statement that was beginning to prove itself. He remembered Asuna mentioning the other day that Klein had returned from America. He had been caught off guard to hear that, thinking he would have been notified by Klein himself of the man's return.

"Well he called you earlier, but you didn't pick up," She'd said.

He hadn't? But he usually picked up all his calls. Then he realized that call must have come while he was working on Yui; nothing else would cause him to ignore something like Klein's return. A week later, he'd overheard Asuna arguing with Lisbeth over the phone. Something about failing to maintain a proper line of communication. The next day, his mother had texted him asking if he was alright. He used to call all the time; these days she was afraid to visit, less she kickstart something negative. He had refused to acknowledge it then, but Hitomi was right; their campaign to save Yui was killing their relationships in the real world.

So could he sacrifice all his current connections in reality to pursue a potential one? His initial response had been yes; the bonds he had with his friends could more than weather it. Hitomi's confession had been the first evidence to prove this assumption wrong; it was only due to her bravery that she had been able to ask him to stop pursuing his daughter. If Hitomi, someone he didn't consider as close a friend as Lisbeth or Agil, was hurt by his actions, how would his family and friends feel? How would Asuna, who was even involved in the plot, feel?

His mantra had long been a statement that condemned weakness. For to give up was to lose, and to lose was to die. A mere month ago, he might not have questioned this motto. But now, he felt about ready to laugh hysterically about it. Long, endless hours slaving alongside Hideki to build an entire human body, with Asuna fretting and trying to help as much as possible with her limited ability regarding computers. Having the project on mind twenty-four seven, then watching his professors scold him about a horrible test score through sleep-deprived eyes.

His mind was giving in. He could feel it. It didn't help that he knew Hideki was facing similar hardships as well, stumbling into the office on unbalanced feet and laying his sore eyes on massive piles of paperwork and company issues that would confound even the brightest minds. A endless stream of issues no doubt orchestrated by Fuzen. If Kazuto was the only one going through troubles, he might have shrugged it off and powered on, but knowing that everyone else was suffering dealt a fatal blow to his resolve.

So in the end, only one person gained from this. While he, Hideki and Asuna spent their hours, and their family and friends drifted ever further, a single individual was capable of benefiting.

Yui.

And he didn't even know if she truly wanted any of this.

* * *

Time passed then like a whetting stone grinding across a sword's steel surface. Despite his troubles, Kazuto didn't allow them to show through his already cracked inner fortitude, and over time Asuna returned to normal as well. His lover never mentioned or questioned him about what Hitomi had told him that one gloomy morning by the sea, and whenever he met the nurse she didn't say anything regarding it either. Simply a spontaneous confession, it seemed, though it still left its mark.

He remembered the day they had begun to grow the biocapsule. The fingers of time were just beginning to reach into the surface of April, and during the first week Kazuto was able to witness the beginning of the end.

He couldn't keep a slight wetness from his eyes when he raised his arm and trailed his hand along the glass surface of the tube, eyes locked on the small particle floating in the center. Yui's body was to be grown within tightly monitored conditions, and this meant starting and finishing the process inside a large tube filled with some odd fluid. He didn't know the specific abilities of the substance, but it would keep Yui alive, and that was all he cared about.

At first, it had been too small to see; simply a fertilized zygote. It was dividing cellularly at an incredible pace, yes, but it was still a full day and a half before the multitude of cells could be seen with the naked eye. A mere week later, it had formed into a tiny likeness of an infant.

"Regardless of the moral issues attached to it, it's a beautiful thing to watch," Hideki had said.

Kazuto had chosen not to share his misgivings about the validity of their conspiracy against Fuzen with Asuna's brother. Firstly, he was unlikely to understand his thoughts. Second, he didn't see much worth in instilling the same doubt within Hideki as well. Besides, he wouldn't let Hitomi's words effect him too deeply. Yet as much as he told this to himself, Kazuto could not totally repress a mixed feeling of joy and pure fear as he watched Yui's vessel grow larger and larger by the hour. Whether he liked it or not, the attempt to bring his daughter to reality would be made. If it succeeded, and all was well, then there would have been no need for his concerns. But if it failed...

He had branded it an obvious mistake earlier, but Kazuto ultimately chose to try and forget his confrontation with Hitomi. The plan was going to be carried through anyway; he couldn't let something like a fear of Fuzen or doubt in Yui's own willingness to stop him.

No matter how much it ate away inside.

The minutes, hours, and days all melded into one entity at some point in time, which he could never exactly pinpoint. First it was mid April and then it was the end of June. Three blinks of the eye later and it was July. Meanwhile, he could feel his connections to reality slipping further and further away from him. Eventually, it came to the point that his own mother, a natural worrywart, did not contact him for a full month for reasons he had only himself to blame. Takanashi, with whom he had developed a sort of budding friendship, could only look away awkwardly when they made eye contact at school. Asuna fell into the habit of ignoring Hitomi's efforts to make connections with her, instead devoting herself to the plan as much as possible to block out everything. One night her mother called, and Kazuto was shocked to hear his lover shout something very rude into the phone before slamming it down. Despite all of the trouble Kyouko may have caused in the past, it had never been enough to warrant such vitriol.

So she was breaking, as well.

Still, the two of them forged on. There was only one thing driving them at this point, and that was Yui. That was the ultimate goal. If it could not be achieved, everything was for naught. The little shreds of effort they had used to maintain their foothold in reality was pulled back and instead devoted to this one single cause.

Was Hitomi right? Was Agil right? Did virtuality have such a strong hold around him that he couldn't stay rooted in the real world without having to return at some point? There had certainly been a time where Kazuto had shunned what was genuinely there in favor of what was fabricated, but he had believed those times past. But now there was nothing on his mind but the world of numbers and special effects, computers and visuals. It was almost like the only thing keeping him in the realm he was in was the fact that he needed to be here to rescue Yui. If he could simply take Asuna and enter a virtual world where he could be with his daughter forever, he very well might have taken the opportunity. After all, everything he had in reality was beginning to disintegrate, and most of those things had been discovered in SAO, anyways. Lisbeth. Agil. Klein, and Yui. Even Asuna, the love of his life. All his relationships had been born and founded in a universe that did not even exist.

It was so surreal he couldn't think through it all clearly.

Kazuto had doubted his belief in going down fighting and never giving up before, but now he embraced it, ignoring everything else for the sake of this one mission. He would fight tooth and nail to achieve its success, burn all the bridges necessary to reach it. And if it still failed, then he would break. But not before.

With this concluded, Kazuto was able to shrink the world around him to include just him, Asuna, Hideki, and the warehouse they operated in. This way, time didn't slip by so painfully anymore. It was a whole new level of being desensitized.

And so came the fateful day.

The day everything ended.

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The longer the better! xD As always, feedback is very much appreciated.**


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